MAX HALL CLAIMS FOURTH WIN OF THE SEASON AT CROFT

Max Hall strengthened his position towards the top of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW standings at Croft Circuit this past weekend (July 27-28) as he claimed a superlative fourth win of the season.

Kicking off the second half of the campaign at the North Yorkshire venue, the EXCELR8 Motorsport driver found himself the main beneficiary as several drivers suffered misfortune in the latter stages of race one, which opened the door for him to charge to the top of the podium.

The Gloucestershire racer had looked as though he would add a third-place finish in race two however a post-race penalty for gaining an unfair advantage would ultimately see him drop back to sixth on the final classification.

Returning to action in the ultra-competitive tin top series after the summer break, the teenager was one of the front-runners across Friday’s two practice sessions - where he finished first and second - and he carried that pace into qualifying on Saturday.

Despite losing a time for exceeding track limits, Hall - who is backed by Halls Electrical, Brigade Electronics, Fischer Panda, Durite, PVL UK, Brandfixx and GT Installation - bounced back to ensure he was in a position to fight towards the front.

Starting on the second row for race one, a sluggish start for Hall saw him drop a handful of positions on the opening lap however he soon began to fight back, clawing his way back into fourth and that looked to be where he would stay until the finish.

However, late drama for the likes of Tom Ovenden, Nelson King and Dominic Wheately opened the door for Hall to take the lead and once out front, he never looked back.

Riding a wave of momentum following that triumph, Hall concluded his weekend with another battling drive which originally saw him take the chequered flag in third however stewards later penalised his charge to the podium, demoting him to sixth.

Leaving Croft, Hall remains second in the Drivers’ Championship and also at the top of the Rookie Cup standings with two events remaining.

Max Hall: “To come back from the summer break and be on the top step of the podium is absolutely mega!

“If I’m honest, I didn’t expect to be winning race one. Up until the latter stages I’d had a pretty steady race and then things started to happen up ahead; even when I got into second I though that was going to be as good as it got.

“I really felt for Tom [Ovenden] to lose the win in the way he did but I’m obviously pleased that we were there to benefit. It’s a great result for me and the team and it crucially means we’re still in the hunt towards the top of the standings.

“It would have been nice to have kept third place in race two but that’s how racing goes sometimes. We’re in a strong place at the moment and I’m looking forward to getting up to Knockhill and seeing what we can do there.”

The penultimate round of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW season will see the series venture north of the border to race at Knockhill on August 10-11.