DOMINIC WHEATLEY GRABS PODIUM ON CRAZY WEEKEND

Dominic Wheatley was able to celebrate a second podium of the Vertu Motors MINI CHALLENGE season at Snetterton – and it wouldn’t be the only on-track action for the Graves Motorsport man…

Wheatley went into the weekend bidding to maintain his place inside the championship top six and things started well in qualifying after he grabbed fourth on the grid for the opening race.

Having slipped to sixth on the opening lap, Wheatley would end up classified in eighth after a track limits penalty and then found himself shuffled back to ninth in race two.

A storming run in race three however saw him come through the pack to take third in a Graves 1-3, with Nelson King scoring his maiden win.

“We were fortunate to get the graduate win in races one and two, but they weren’t the results I wanted from P4 in qualifying,” he said.

“I had luck on my side a little in race three, but to come from P9 and reward the team for its efforts with third is great. The whole team has been working hard, and a 1-3 finish is a fantastic result.

“If you’d told me at the start of the season that I’d have two podium finishes at this stage, then I’d have bitten your hand off. We’ve now got to build on it and make sure we are able to get more silverware as the season goes on.”

Alongside his serious work, Wheatley would also represent the MINI CHALLENGE in the inaugural BTCC Crazy Cart event organised by EXCELR8 racer Nick Halstead.

Run on a specially built circuit at Agostini, designed in a matter of minutes using a series of cones, Wheatley would fight hard to keep control of his cart as the event descended into chaos – with cones flying left, right and centre as the lap got rapidly shorter…

“I don’t think even the best timekeeper would be able to work out who actually won that – so I might as well say it was me,” he said. “I reckon there were lots of track limits going on, or there was whilst we still had a track!

“I realised on lap two when the chicane wasn’t there anymore that it was going to just be chaotic, and it was great fun to be asked to take part.”