Mini Challenge racer Chris Knox had a fantastic race weekend at Brands Hatch taking all 3 race wins, pole position and 2 x fastest lap – upping his average score in the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge from 16.25 to 63.57 and moving up 41 places from 49th to 8th!
Knox puts his clean sweep down to a motivational F1 trip ‘I spent the weekend before Brands in Monaco and met some folk who reignited my determination after my bad luck I’ve suffered at the previous 2 race weekends.’
In qualifying Knox placed two quick laps and then came into the pits to check on the gap from second. The team took the decision to sit in the pits to save the tyres, whilst the rest of the field continued for the full session to try and get beat Knox’s time, but no one could get near the 1:42.658 meaning that not only did Chris take pole but he also placed the second fasted time meaning he took points for 2 pole positions and 40 points towards the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge.
The first race saw Knox side by side with Jason Richardson into turn one, there was some contact between both cars which sent Chris down turn 1 sideways, however he recovered well and got his head down to pull a nice gap and take the car home scoring 100 points towards the challenge. Lee Allan took second place and 75 points towards the challenge and Luke Caudle took the final podium positions and 55 points.
The second race saw wet conditions which to many could spell disaster but for Knox it was his perfect race conditions: ‘Coming from Scotland and racing up there for 15 years – I love the wet conditions.’ Knox went on to make the perfect start and take a dominant victory with another 100 points for the race win towards the challenge. Luke Caudle took second place and Chris Smith rounded off the top 3.
The last Mini Challenge race saw yet still more rain and Knox starting in 6th place on the grid - the last race reverses the top 6 from the previous race.
Knox had a good start and as Jason Richardson and Luke Caudle were coming into turn 3 they made contact allowing Knox to sneak past into fourth place. In the next two laps he managed to pass Chris Smith and Sam Osborne, putting Knox in second position. Lee Allen did not make it easy for the previous race winner and was blocking Knox well, however Knox soon picked his moment on the run down to turn one and pulled off a brave move around the outside of him. Chris was delighted: ‘As soon as I hit the front I just steadily pulled away to round up my dream clean sweep weekend.’
Allen went on to finish fourth with 40 points towards the challenge; Chris Smith again took third and Luke Caudle second place. Caudle is now is just sitting in front of Knox in the overall challenge standings in 7th place with 65.71 average points.
Brands Hatch also played host to GT Cup this weekend. Andy Ruhan took second but finished 8th in the last race lowering his average point score. However Ruhan still leads the GT Cup cars in the challenge standings and is in 6th place overall with 78.50.
This weekend sees the MSV F3 Cup registered races compete at Spa; will Aaron Steele continue his winning streak? Adrian Churchill from Production Touring Car Trophy, who is currently in second place in the challenge standings, will race this weekend at Thruxton alongside the Britcar Production GTN Championship, and with Kevin Clarke from the series in third place this weekend could see the top 3 all change!
Current top 10 standings:
Standings/ Driver Name/ Team/ Series/ Average Points Per Round 1 Adrian Churchill Courtenay Sport PTC 116.00 2 Aaron Steele Grays Motorsport MSV F3 100.17 3 Kevin Clarke Intersport Britcar Production 86.67 4 Stephen Treherne Handy Motorsport Legends 85.00 5 Wayne Gibson Intersport Britcar Production 66.67 6 Andy Ruhan JMH GT Cup class 1 65.79 7 Luke Caudle EXCELR8 MINI 65.71 8 Chris Knox EXCELR8 MINI 63.57 9 Chris Needham MSV F3 63.50 10 Jason Richardson Dart Motorsport MINI 60.71
