Photo credits to; BARC
The JCW Mini Challenge had already seen an interesting storyline before the racing started, never mind the finale. Reports stated that 7 drivers were disqualified from qualifying for not wearing socks – which violated the regulations for protective clothing! The whole saga was joking referred to as “sock-gate” by David Addison
As the finale got going it was mayhem up and down the field with cars switching and swapping positions up and down the field, everybody kept it clean with no major contact or incidents in the field. Algieri and Gornall were having a proper Mini Challenge battle for the win when there was contact between the pair into Brooklands, which pulled 3rd placed race two winner Nathen Edwards into the battle and into 2nd! Ned Anthony in the #32 car received a 5 second penalty for a jump start around halfway into the race. The JCW Sport class was providing entertainment as both cars in the class ran side-by-side for several laps in a row! Showing the crowd a proper battle.
With just over 10 minutes to go, the great equaliser arrived to Silverstone – Rain! In just over a lap the heavens opened, cars flew into Brooklands and ran deep as the track was soaked – although the JCW Sport class were STILL side-by-side at the back! With just under 8 minutes to go Gornall was pushed wide and what would have felt like the entire field filtered through and past the #96, meanwhile the first spinner in the tricky conditions was the #66 car of Alex Brandham, he was able to get the car going and back onto the track again. Nathen Edwards pulled out a world-class move around the outside of Brooklands on 2 cars in wet conditions on dry tyres! Slotting straight into P2! Utter Chaos broke out with 5 minutes to go as Gornall and Algieri battled it out through Copse, but into Maggots and Beckets they made contact and Algieri went wide, later in the lap Algieri went wide going onto the start/finish straight losing 10 places in the process! The was some class from the JCW Sport “side-by-side” class as they were caught by the field, both cars in the class split down the middle and let the field by, showing true sportsman ship.
As the trio headed round Brooklands for the final time Edwards sent it around the outside and was pushed by Gornall onto the grass! Gornall ran away onto the start/finish straight while Edwards dropped to 4th behind Edmundson across the flag! Another world-class dramatic race from the JCW Mini Challenge ends their weekend at Silverstone – with a championship still to play for at Brands Hatch in 2 weeks time!