NICK TANDY SCORES RACE TWO WIN AS TOM OVENDEN CROWNED

Nick Tandy scored victory in a shortened second Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Brands Hatch as Tom Ovenden took an unassailable lead in the championship standings.

The reverse grid race had initially got underway with Charlie Hand on pole position and the Chandler Motorsport driver man was able to keep Tandy at bay during the early stages after the NAPA Racing man jumped Josh Porter on the third lap.

The action would be halted after five laps however, when Lewis Selby and Harry Hickton clashed on the exit of Hawthorns whilst dicing for position, which resulted in Hickton going off into the barriers before his car was launched into a barrel roll.

Hickton was able to climb from his wrecked car with the race being halted to allow the damaged car to be recovered and Hickton taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks before he was released back to the paddock.

When the action resumed, Tandy wasted little time in getting ahead of Hand into a lead he would retain over the five laps that followed, although second place for Hand still marked a first trip to the overall podium for both driver and team.

With Nathan Edwards slow off the grid at the start, Nathan Harrison jumped up to third at the start and the former champion was able to hold the place until the final lap when Edwards nipped back ahead to round out the podium spots.

Max Edmundson took fifth place to secure the Rookie Cup title, with Selby taking the flag in sixth before he was handed a 30 second penalty that dropped him to the rear of the field for the contact with Hickton.

It promoted Alex Solley up into sixth from Harry Campey, with Ovenden taking the flag in eighth having also suffered a terrible restart.

However, having simply needed to take the finish in order to be crowned champion, Ovenden was able to put himself out of reach at the front to provisionally clinch a JCW title to add to the one he secured in Coopers.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “I never, ever thought this would be possible but we have put a great season together. It felt weird at Silverstone when Jamie [Osborne] wasn’t there and I felt we didn’t deserve to be on top of the title, but then I reminded myself that I put myself in the position to take the lead from him with the results we’ve scored throughout the season.

“Getting a podium yesterday took some of the pressure off me and it doesn’t feel real to have now wrapped things up. A huge thank you to the team and to everyone who has supported me, and now we’ve got to try and sort out the Teams’ Championship in the final race.”