RHYS HURD DOUBLES UP IN DELAYED SILVERSTONE FINALE

Rhys Hurd made it two wins from three at Silverstone with victory in the delayed final Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy race of the weekend.

The initial attempt to run the race had been brought to an abrupt end on the opening lap when a multi-car incident part-way down the Wellington Straight resulted in heavy contact involving the cars of Gabe Fairbrother and Cameron Wood.

Louie Capozzoli, Leo Purches and Josh Wilby were also caught up in the incident which resulted in an immediate red flag to allow rescue teams to attend to those involved.

Both Fairbrother and Capozzoli required assistance to exit their cars and were transferred from the circuit to hospital in Oxford for precautionary checks, with Wood also unable to take the restart as a result of the damage sustained to his car.

Having been moved to the end of the day, a reduced field lined up for the start with Hurd on the defacto pole, and the Westbourne Motorsport man duly led the early stages of the race ahead of Jenson Mason and Wilby.

Mason briefly managed to get ahead in a move that saw Hurd shuffled back down the order to run as low as fifth, but he quickly managed to battle his way back to the front and then held off the late challenge of Mason to emerge victorious.

“I always seem to do well in race one and race three,” he said. “Credit to the team for getting me back out after the retirement in race two, although I was a bit worried when I got shuffled back down the order. However, I managed to get ahead of two at Brooklands and then had to just keep Jenson behind at the end.

“Most importantly, I hope both Gabe and Louie are okay after the incident on the initial start as that wasn’t a nice one to see.”

Mason’s podium finish came on his return to action for the Wera Alliance Racing Academy squad, with the youngster running in the front pack throughout. For much of the race, he had team-mate Alfie Garford for company at the sharp end of the field before an ABS issue dropped the Rookie Cup leader out of the top ten.

Behind Mason, Henry Foote rounded out the podium on his best weekend to date, with the Race Car Consultants man also spending much of the race involved in the three car fight for the lead.

It marked a second podium finish of the season for Foote but a first secured on the road having inherited the other at Donington Park.

“It’s a mega result,” he said. “We got the rebuilt engine in the car and the pace was there this weekend. It’s been amazing and it was quality to be up there in the top three. Anyone could have won that and I’m delighted with third to repay the team, my dad and everyone who has helped me.”

Championship leader Alex Keens extended his advantage at the top of the standings by battling his way to fourth spot ahead of Purches and Wilby, both of whom were able to reward their teams for the effort that went in to repair their damaged cars after the initial start.

Ronnie Smith and Luca Marinoni Osborne followed behind, with the top ten being completed by Olivier Algieri and Ashley Gregory.