Henry Gilbert rounded off a near-perfect season in the MINI Challenge by wrapping up the overall championship crown with two race wins at the championships closing round at Donington Park last weekend.
Dry weather greeted the MINI Challenge crews at the Leicestershire-based circuit as Pirelli, the championships official tyre supplier, supplied the John Cooper Works (JWC) and Club classes with its highly-competitive Pirelli DH slicks.
The final round of the season featured four races and it was Lee Allen who took the JCW race one victory, with Lee Pattison in a close second. In the Club Class, Max Leaver took the win with Jono Brown finishing second and Gilbert in third.
Gilbert returned to his winning ways on race two after taking the Club class victory. Lee Pattison claimed a win in the JCW class, and was visibly delighted at the finish: It was a great win for us. Lee Allen pushed me so hard but in the end it just went our way, said victor, Pattison.
The sun came out for the third race on Sunday and both Pattison and Gilbert were on a roll as they wrapped up their second consecutive race victories. Gilberts win was enough to secure him the title and the driver was delighted at the finish line: Its the perfect way to win a championship, by winning a clean race, beamed Gilbert. Weve worked so hard and its a great feeling to pay everyone back with this result.
Allen took the seasons closing race win in the JCW class, with Brown clinching the race four win for the Club class.
Pirelli Tyre motorsport operations manager, Matthew Corby, said: On behalf of Pirelli, I would like to congratulate Henry Gilbert on winning this years MINI Challenge. Henry has put in a consistent and strong performance throughout the season and his win is very much deserved. This has been the first year that Pirelli has supplied tyres to the series and we have been very impressed with the organisation of the series as a whole, in addition to the professionalism and skill from the drivers on the grid.
Series promoter Paul Harvey said: Comgratulations to Henry Gilbert on the overall win and also to Lee Allen on the JCW Class win: both drivers had to work very hard for their victories. Supplying tyres to a one make series can be challenging at times but Pirelli have supplied a great product, backed up by and excellent technical team. We hope to work with them again in the future.
