ARCHIE JOHNSON COMPLETES SILVERSTONE HAT-TRICK

Archie Johnson will lead the JCW Sport field into the final rounds of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE after wrapping up three wins from three in the final race of the weekend at Silverstone.

Johnson started the race from second on the grid behind team-mate – and title rival – Henry Howarth but was able to grab the lead on the opening lap.

From that point on, Johnson would prove to be largely untroubled at the front as he was able to build a slender advantage over Howarth behind – helped at points by the fact that two recovering JCW cars got involved in their battle.

Johnson would ultimately end up more than three seconds clear by the finish to ensure he will now take a lead of twelve points into the final meeting in two weeks.

“It’s been a brilliant weekend with three wins from three,” he said. “I did not think this was possible coming into the weekend and I would have been happy if I’d managed to get a single victory.

“The car has been unreal this weekend and I can’t thank everyone at Jamsport enough. Fingers crossed now for Brands Hatch.”

As had been the case across the weekend, the lead pair were able to build a gap over the chasing pack behind, which was headed by the Bitcoin Racing car of Chris Mackenzie.

Mackenzie would be embroiled in a huge battle throughout the race with Nicky Gauci, Ben Crossley and Will Crooks, with Gauci in particular looking to try and attack for third on more than one occasion.

The Maltese driver did briefly claim the position but after Mackenzie has retaken the spot, Gauci suddenly slowed with a technical issue that dropped him out of the fight.

With Crossley also picking up ten seconds of penalties for exceeding track limits, it allowed Mackenzie to round out the podium ahead of Crooks, with Crossley the final classified finisher.

“It was a lot easier with the power steering working compared to yesterday!” Mackenzie said. “It’s a shame I lost ground to the front two but we had a great battle for third. I had to be a bit careful late on when I had a warning for track limits, but to come away with a podium is really good.”