SAM GORNALL SCORES VICTORY IN OULTON PARK OPENER

Sam Gornall scored his first win in the Power Maxed MINI CHALLENGE after taking advantage of misfortune for Josh Porter in the opening race at Oulton Park.

Qualifying had seen Porter top the times for the third successive meeting, although he had missed out on starting from pole at Brands Hatch after being excluded from the session for a technical infringement.

Porter’s second fastest lap was also good enough to snare pole for race one, with Gornall alongside on the front row for Pro Alloys Racing.

Porter made the best start to lead the field at the start ahead of Gornall, with Joe Tanner and Tom Ovenden giving chase.

The top two quickly started to break away from Tanner in third spot, with Ovenden slipping away from the podium spots as he found himself facing pressure from behind from Charlie Hand, with Archie Johnson enjoying his strongest race of the season in sixth.

Porter however saw his victory hopes ended on the fifth lap when he clipped a tyre stack and damaged his suspension, which handed the lead to Gornall with a handy gap over Tanner.

As Tanner faced pressure from Ovenden and Hand behind, Gornall was able to extend his advantage at the front to lead by nearly three seconds by the half way stage, with an ever-increasing train of cars joining the podium battle.

Gornall continued to race clear as Tanner backed up the field behind having picked up splitter damage on his NAPA Racing UK car, with Ovenden trying to find a way ahead but also mindful of the fact that Hand and Johnson were on his tail.

Gornall ultimately scored victory in comfortable fashion as he took the flag more than seven seconds clear of Tanner, who held on to take second ahead of Ovenden despite his damage.

That marked the biggest winning margin of the season so far.

Hand took fourth spot ahead of Johnson, with the top six being rounded out by Olivier Algieri.

Cam Richardson, Max Edmundson, Harry Campey and Ned   Anthony rounded out the top ten after both Henry Howarth and Alex Solley picked up track limited penalties.

In the Sport class, Murray Richardson ended Alfie Garford’s run of pole positions when Garford suffered gearbox issues in qualifying, and then held the lead in the early stages of the race ahead of his Wera Alliance Racing Academy team-mate.

Richardson had the edge over Garford for pace through the first half of the race as he looked to hold on to the rear of the JCW field.

As the race wore on, Richardson eased clear to bag his maiden victory, ending Garford’s winning run in the process.