RHYS HURD COMPLETES DONINGTON PARK HAT-TRICK

Rhys Hurd completed a fine weekend at Donington Park with victory in the second and third race of the weekend for the Mairon Motorsport MINI CHALLENGE Trophy.

The Westbourne Motorsport driver battled his way to the front in both to become the first driver to score a weekend hat-trick since Nelson King in 2022, with Alex Keens returning to the top of the championship standings on a weekend where Graves Motorsport took an unassailable lead in the Teams’ Championship.

RACE TWO:
The reverse grid race kicked off with Ashley Gregory lining up on pole after the top nine finishers from race three were reversed and she held the lead when the lights went out and the field headed down to Redgate for the first time.

Henry Foote held second at the start but then came under attack from Matt Luff mid-way through the lap, with the Graves Motorsport racer making a move through McLeans and Coppice before then grabbing the lead at the hairpin when Gregory locked her brakes and ran wide.

Luff therefore led at the end of the opening lap, with Foote and Harry Smith also managing to get ahead of Gregory, but Smith then got out shape at the chicane on lap two and clattered into the tyre wall on the outside of the circuit to bring out the safety car.

Whilst Smith was able to climb from his car unaided, it soon became apparent that damage to the tyre wall would need a lengthy repair, with the decision take to bring out the red flag so the circuit team could complete their work.

Just eight minutes of racing remained when the action got back underway behind the safety car, which allowed for three laps of action before the chequered flag dropped.

Luff led the field away from Foote, Josh Selvadorai, Alex Keens and Hurd, with Selvadorai making a fine move around the outside of McLeans and Coppice to grab second and Hurd wasting little time in grabbing fourth from the defending champion at the hairpin.

Going into what would be lap three, Foote tried to reclaim second from Selvadorai going into Redgate, with Hurd diving to the inside to the pair on the exit to try and take two spots in one swoop.

Hurd sailed through as Foote and Selvadorai squeezed into each other, which also allowed Keens and Josh Wilby to get ahead, with Hurd then racing up to the rear of Luff before grabbing the lead at the hairpin.

Hurd then came through the final lap unscathed to take his second win of the weekend, with Luff and Keens following behind to round out the podium. With Hurd not eligible to score, it means Luff reclaimed the championship lead from his team-mate by two points.

“With the red flag, I knew I would have to make my moves quickly as we weren’t going to have much time,” Hurd said.

“I saw Henry make a move on Josh going into turn one and thought I’d have a bit of that, and managed to get them both at once, then I managed to get a tow from Matt and knew he wasn’t going to defend when I’m not racing for points and he has a championship to battle for.”

Wilby took the flag in fourth spot but a five second penalty for a false start dropped him down the order and meant it was Leo Richardson who instead finished as best of the rest to score his maiden Rookie Cup win, with fifth going the way of Foote after an almighty skirmish into the hairpin on the final lap.

That saw six cars all fighting for the same part of tarmac, with Selvadorai, Luca Marinoni Osborne and Isaac Doble completing the top eight.

RACE THREE:
The weekend finale got underway with Foote on pole having topped the times in qualifying and he retained the lead at the start despite the best efforts of Keens to get ahead going into turn one for the first time.

Keens then tried again at McLeans before finally making a move into the hairpin, only for Foote to have the right line into Goddards to ensure that he ended the opening lap at the front, with Keens and Doble behind.

Keens had momentum out of the final corner however and grabbed the lead into Redgate for the second time, with Foote trying to hold on down the Craner Curves only to find himself off line – which allowed Smith and Hurd to get ahead after both had cleared Doble at turn one.

Smith tried to fight ahead off Keens for the lead but having been unable to make a move stick, he instead came under pressure from a charging Hurd, who grabbed second before setting his sights on Keens for the lead, finally making a move stick on lap eight.

Having worked his way back up into the top three, Doble took second from Keens into Goddards and looked like he could possibly launch a bid for the lead before an incident on the exit of the hairpin saw the yellow flags come out.

That incident involved Selvadorai, Smith, Richard Jepp and Foote who had been involved in a huge fight for sixth when Selvadorai suddenly lost power on the exit of the hairpin,

Smith tried to go around the MRM car with Jepp following suit whilst Foote dived to the other side, but there simply wasn’t enough space for the four cars on the same part of the circuit, with Jepp tipped into a spin across the front of Selvadorai’s car and collecting Foote – putting both heavily into the wall.

The resultant caution removed a key overtaking opportunity on the final lap, with Hurd able to wrap up his hat-trick of wins, with Doble taking second for his maiden podium and Keens in third.

“It’s been a brilliant weekend and to win all three races is fantastic – it couldn’t have been better,” Hurd said. “Scoring the win at Thruxton last time out certainly helped when it came to making it onto the grid here at my favourite circuit, and hopefully these results will help us get back out again before the end of the season.”

Of the podium, the late dramas allowed Wilby to come through to take fourth spot and make amends for his earlier penalty, with Isaac Doble and Luff rounding out the top six – a result that saw him slip back behind Keens in the standings.

The gap between the two sits at eight points heading into the next event on the calendar at Croft in two weeks.