SAM WELLER AIMS TO MAKE HOME ADVANTAGE COUNT AT SWELTERING SNETTERTON

Knockhill marked the half way stage in the 2022 Quaife MINI CHALLENGE season, with the race for the title now heading for Snetterton for the fifth round of the campaign.

Although he was unable to secure a win at Knockhill, Sam Weller remains the man to beat at the top of the standings, with a brace of third place finishes last time out allowing him to extend his advantage at the top.

Weller admitted that he had been surprised by his results in Scotland having not expected to challenge right at the front of the field at the Fife circuit, but he took full advantage of issues for Jack Mitchell to strengthen his lead over his main rival.

The current points lead will expect to be strong this weekend at his home circuit, with the Hybrid Tune squad – like rivals EXCELR8 – being based little over half an hour away across the border in Suffolk.

Weller will be ably supported this weekend by Joe Tanner and Kyle Reid, with Tanner looking to add to the podium finishes he secured at Knockhill and Reid hoping to build on the solid pace he displayed on his first JCW appearance of the campaign.

Hannah Chapman is missing however, having run out of time to try and secure the additional backing she needed to return to action following his weekend-ending incident in testing at Knockhill.

The long trip to Scotland proved to be one to forget for Mitchell, with the JW Bird Motorsport driver losing ground on Weller after logging his second DNF of the campaign.

The fact that DNF came right at the start of race one put Mitchell firmly on the back foot and would leave him with a best finish of sixth – making it the first weekend this season where he has failed to score a podium finish.

Mitchell – partnered solely by Jamie Osborne this weekend with Ru Clark missing – isn’t just looking ahead to Weller however, with Ronan Pearson just a point behind in third after dropped scores are taken into account.

Pearson’s double win at Knockhill saw him rocket up the championship standings and means he leads EXCELR8’s challenge going into its home race.

Jason Lockwood is only three points further back having added to his podium tally at Scotland, with the pair part of a seven-strong line-up this weekend. Defending champion Dan Zelos saw his title hopes take a huge hit with two no scores last time out and he now goes to Snetterton with nothing to lose and his focus simply on fighting for a place on the top step of the podium – something he has yet to manage this season.

Joshua Jackson, Ethan Hammerton and teenager Gergő Rácz will all hope to fight for top ten finishes after strong pace in Scotland, whilst local racer Liam Lambert joins the team this weekend for what will be his first outing of the campaign

Leading the chasing pack behind the top four is impressive rookie Alex Denning, who made it onto the top step of the podium for the first time at Knockhill. That allowed him to move ahead of Graves Motorsport team-mate Max Coates in the standings after he was forced to retire whilst leading the same race, with both drivers hoping to fight for top honours this weekend.

Elsewhere in the Graves line-up, Bradley Gravett sits just outside the top ten after a solid campaign to date, whilst Lewis Brown will hope for a major upturn in fortune after more misfortune at Knockhill left him once again languishing further down the pecking order than expected.

Progress will be the name of the game for the remaining trio in the six-strong line-up, with Dominic Wheatley, Ross Marshall and Harry Nunn heading into the second half of their rookie campaigns targeting three solid results.

LUX Motorsport’s Jack Davidson is another driver still chasing a first win of the year and will hope that a strong weekend at Snetterton can kick-start a late season charge like that seen last year, with the Scot supported this weekend by Ryan Faulconbridge, Kenan Dole and the returning Barry Ward.

LDR Performance Tuning return after missing Knockhill, with Leo Panayiotou back alongside James Griffith – who raced with the Autotech squad of Billy Hardy in Scotland two weeks ago.

The grid is then rounded out by the single car squads of Robbie Dalgleish and Lydia Walmsley, with the former looking to retain his top ten championship position and the latter hoping to try and better the seasons best of eleventh she secured last time out.