OLIVIER ALGIERI SCORES MAIDEN JCW WIN IN SILVERSTONE OPENER

Olivier Algieri bounced back from a difficult weekend at Knockhill to score his first victory in the Power Maxed MINI CHALLENGE in the opening race at Silverstone.

The EXCELR8 driver emerged at the front of a 20 minute race that concluded a dramatic day at the Home of British Motorsport following a chaotic qualifying session in which seven drivers were stripped of their times for non-compliant racewear.

Harry Hickton had topped the times but was amongst those to lose their times, leaving Algieri on pole for the final race of the weekend but with Alex Solley lining up at the front for race one.

Solley was able to retain the lead when the lights went out at the start with Algieri and Josh Porter slotting in behind, with the Pro Alloys Racing drivers able to hold onto his advantage through the early laps.

However, Algieri was fixed onto his tail and when Solley left the door slightly open going through Luffield at the end of the fourth lap, Algieri was able to get down the inside as the pair headed along the start/finish straight.

That gave him the inside line into Copse, where Algieri swept through into a lead he would retain through to the finish.

“It’s the first win I’ve had since all the drama during my Cooper days and I’m over the moon,” he said. “We’ve been close a few times and when there was the chance to make a move on Alex, I knew I had to take it.

“It’s good to get this first win under my belt, and hopefully we can take the momentum into the races tomorrow.”

Having lost the lead to Algieri, Solley came under immediate attack from Porter who swept through into second spot at Brooklands to ensure a 1-2 finish for EXCELR8 with the leading three being chased home by Nathan Edwards as best of the rest.

Edwards fought his way ahead of team-mate Harry Campey early on but couldn’t come onto the rear of the podium fight and instead spent much of the race running alone on track.

Campey held onto fifth until the closing stages when he was overhauled by a charging Hickton, who had risen through the field from 17th on the grid – setting the fastest lap en-route.

Campey would cross the line in sixth but was hit with a penalty for exceeding track limits, which promoted Max Edmundson up into the top six from Henry Howarth and Tom Ovenden.

Ovenden had been another driver to be excluded from qualifying but minimised his losses to Edmundson in the standings, albeit helped by the fact that Sam Gornall also picked up a five second penalty that meant he dropped behind the defending champion in the results.

Campey was ninth after his additional five seconds were applied, with Joe Tanner being the third driver to bounce back from a qualifying exclusion to finish in the top ten.

JCW Sport once again went the way of Alfie Garford although he was kept honest for most of the race by Murray Richardson, only easing clear of his Wera Alliance Racing Academy team-mate in the closing laps for win number 14 of the campaign.