MURRAY RICHARDSON, OLIVIER ALGIERI SHARE SUNDAY WINS AT DONINGTON PARK

Olivier Algieri closed in on the lead in the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy with a second win of the weekend in the Donington Park finale after rookie Murray Richardson emerged as an unlikely winner of race two.

Algieri dominated race three from pole to close to within a handful of points of championship leader Alex Keens and had led the field home in race two before various penalties led to a much revised result and a maiden win for Wera Alliance Racing Academy youngster Richardson.

Race 2:

Algieri had won Saturday’s opening race from pole position but then made the worse possible draw for the reverse grid to put himself back to tenth.

Team-mate Luca Marinoni Osborne instead lined up at the head of the field but lost out on the opening lap to championship leader Alex Keens, who managed to sneak ahead in his quest to try and extend his advantage over Algieri at the top.

Behind them, a somewhat chaotic opening lap saw Gabe Fairbrother rocked up the order from seventh on the grid into third, with both Alfie Garford and Louie Capozzoli losing ground.

From tenth, Algieri managed to climb his way into seventh on the opening lap before overhauling Garford, Capozzoli and Henry Foote on lap two to close onto the rear of Fairbrother’s car.

Algieri tried to make a move into the final corner but was unable to make it stick, only to then grab third mid-way through the following lap. It wouldn’t be for long however when Algieri then ran wide out of the final corner to allow Fairbrother back ahead.

Algieri finally managed to make a move stick going through the Craner Curves to take second place but there was drama behind when Capozzoli and Garford both dipped a wheel off track running through the Old Hairpin.

As both rejoined and headed into Schwantz Curve almost side-by-side, Foote tried to move past Garford on the right just as Josh Wilby looked to overhaul Capozzoli to the left.

The end result was Garford being pinched between Capozzoli and Foote, with the three cars all going off and dropping down the order, with Capozzoli ultimately forced into the pits to retire.

Whilst that was happening, Algieri had set off after Keens at the front and grabbed the lead going into Coppice, with Fairbrother making it a three-way battle for position.

As the fight looked set to rage, the safety car was called to recover Marinoni Osborne’s car from the gravel after a clash with Ashley Gregory, which set up a one lap dash to the flag once his car had been recovered.

Algieri duly held on at the front to take the flag ahead of his rivals and pick up win number six of the campaign and further close the gap at the top of the championship.

Keens looked set to minimise his losses but on the final lap, Fairbrother saw his chance to get ahead and opened the door for Wilby to follow him through.

It meant the EXCELR8 man finished second with Wilby just behind and Keens having to settle for fourth spot. Ronnie Smith took fifth spot despite losing ground early on with a trip across the grass coming out of the final corner, with Gregory following home in sixth.

Post race however, there would be a huge twist in the tale as a raft of track limits penalties completed changed the final order.

With twelve of those still running at the flag handed penalties of varying levels of severity for going above the permitted limits during the race, it was rookie Murray Richardson who suddenly found himself emerging from the race victorious despite the fact he had been running outside the top ten at the chequered flag.

“I’m not quite sure what happened as I finished the race in 13th and suddenly I got told I was the winner!” he said. “I guess I was just able to keep it on the road when others couldn’t, and it’s amazing to have a win to my name.

“This is my first season racing and I’m learning every time that I go out on track. I’ve been given an amazing opportunity by Wera, NAPA, and everyone else involved and this is brilliant.”

Behind him came two more drivers who were able to pick up their best results to date in the shape of James Sherrington and Louis Fleet with Algieri dropping down to eighth spot – having also picked up a one place penalty for a clash with Fairbrother.

Race 3:

Having lined up at the front of the field, Algieri nailed the start of race three to lead the field into Redgate for the first time and was never in serious risk from that point onwards, despite rain prior to the start having left circuit conditions greasy.

Easing away from fellow front-row starting Cameron Richardson, Algieri took the flag more than seven seconds clear of his rival to win number six of the campaign – leaving him now just four points off the championship lead with two rounds left to run.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs today, but that is how racing goes sometimes,” he said. “I’m happy with how we’ve performed today and the pace that we have shown, and now it’s getting really tight in the championship.

“At the start of the season, I seemed to have my head in my hands after every race but I always knew we had the pace to fight at the front. I’m glad these kind of results are coming now when it really matters.”

Richardson was able to follow Algieri home to bag his maiden Cooper podium, with a titanic battle following behind over third.

Hurd grabbed the position from Marinoni Osborne on the opening lap with a move at the hairpin but then found himself under pressure from Ronnie Smith, who managed to get ahead at Coppice on lap five – bringing Marinoni Osborne with him.

Hurd managed to fight back ahead of Marinoni Osborne to grab fourth and almost reclaimed third from Smith when he then ran wide at the Old Hairpin.

The current Rookie Cup champion managed to keep Hurd behind until a late lunge at the hairpin enabled the Westbourne Motorsport man to get back in front and then then held on despite huge pressure on the closing laps as both Keens and Garford joined in to make it a four-way battle for the position.

“This is my first weekend with AU Vodka onboard so it’s great to end up with a podium,” he said. “It was a really hard race, particularly when the ABS light came on on the car! I knew it was a case of putting the car in the right place going into the corners and then nailing the exits, although I’d have preferred it not to be a race that had an extra five minutes to it!”

Smith took fourth, with Keens able to hold on to fifth despite the best efforts of Garford to get ahead on the exit of the final corner, with the pair taking the flag split by just 0.051.

Purches took seventh, with the top ten being completed by Sherrington, Foote and the out-of-luck Marinoni Osborne.

The results remain provisional pending technical checks.