TOM OVENDEN, ALFIE GARFORD BAG DOUBLE DONINGTON POLES

Defending champion Tom Ovenden scored a pair of pole positions in qualifying for the opening rounds of the new Power Maxed MINI CHALLENGE season at Donington Park.

The EXCELR8 driver bagged pole for the opening round for the third successive season as his team locked out the top three spots on the grid, with Alfie Garford emerging at the quickest driver in JCW Sport with an impressive performance that saw him outpace a number of the more powerful JCW machines.

Ovenden’s quickest lap in the session was left to the end and came shortly after team-mate Nathan Edwards had put in a fast lap that saw him vault to the top of the field.

The champion wasn’t to be defeated however and his quickest lap would be three-tenths of a second quicker than anyone else could manage as he bagged the six bonus points on offer.

His second fastest time – which would also have gained pole – ensured pole for the opening race of the weekend later today.

“I seem to like this place quite a lot!” he said. “It suits my driving style which helps and it was important for me to come out here and put in a strong performance.

“When you have the #1 on your car, you have a bit of a target on your back but we had a solid run in testing on Thursday and have put in a good performance today, so I’m really happy with things so far.”

Edwards would be left to settle for second spot ahead of Olivier Algieri, who impressed on his first qualifying session since moving up from the Cooper class to lead the Rookie Cup entrants in third – missing out on the front row by just 0.028s.

“This is one of those circuits where times are always quite close so popping in a lap like that late on means we’re in a good place,” he said. “EXCELR8 has done a great job in getting the car to where I need it to be and we’ll only get better with more time behind the wheel.

“I’ve not launched one of these things off the line yet so the start of the race this afternoon might be interesting, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Algieri will be joined on row two by Harry Hickton in the sole Mannpower Motorsport car, with the top six completed by Josh Porter and Harry Campey – the latter enjoying his most competitive qualifying performance to date despite slipping back down the order late on when he was forced into the pits with minor damage to the front right of his car.

Sam Gornall was seventh quickest at the second best of the Rookie drivers but managed to outqualify Pro Alloys Racing team-mate Max Edmundson, with Alex Solley and Charlie Hand rounding out the top ten.

Garford’s run to pole in JCW Sport means he has now topped the times in every session this weekend having also led the way in Thursday testing, with the Wera Alliance Racing Academy driver having been as high as twelfth overall at one stage.

Although he was shuffled down to 17th overall by the finish, Garford was comfortably clear of team-mate Murray Richardson as the team locked out a 1-2 on the times in class.

“I didn’t really expect it to be going so well, but I’m not complaining,” he said. “It’s a brilliant way to start and we’ve got a 1-2 for the team so I couldn’t really be any happier. It’s a very different car to the Cooper I Raced last season but I feel comfortable and the set-up on the car is letting me take the fight to the JCW cars a bit. Hopefully we can mix it with them in the races.”

Chris Mackenzie took third in class in the Bitcoin Racing car, with Eden Spanswick rounding out the field despite briefly stopping on the side of the the circuit in the early stages.