MAX HALL SETS UP ROOKIE CUP TITLE SHOWDOWN WITH KNOCKHILL DOUBLE PODIUM

Max Hall will head into the final round of the 2024 Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW season in contention to lift the Rookie Cup title after charging to a brace of podium finishes at Knockhill this past weekend (August 10-11).

The EXCELR8 Motorsport driver was one of the stars of the show as the series took centre stage in Scotland to open up a 40-point advantage in the coveted standings for first-year drivers, with just the finale at Brands Hatch in October now remaining.

It won’t just be the Rookie Cup crown that Hall will be vying for either in two months’ time as, despite team-mate Dan Zelos provisionally clinching the overall title, the battle for runners-up laurels remains firmly up for grabs.

Sporting a special one-off tartan livery in homage to his driver coach, British Touring Car Championship race winner Ronan Pearson, the 17-year-old showed encouraging pace across Friday’s two practice sessions - something that translated into qualifying on Saturday morning.

In what proved to be a frenetic session around the undulating 1.27-mile circuit, Hall punched in a number of quick laps to secure second on the grid for race one, sixth for race two and third for race three.

Blasting away from the front row in the opening encounter, Hall - who is backed by Halls Electrical, Brigade Electronics, Fischer Panda, Duarte, Brandfixx and GT Installation - maintained second place throughout despite coming under race-long pressure.

Race two on Sunday morning saw the teenage sensation continue his front-running form as he once again produced a superlative defensive masterclass to fend off a hoard of cars on his way to what was a seventh podium of the year.

Starting in third for the final race of the weekend, Hall was cruelly denied the chance to fight for what would have been a third podium finish of the weekend as he suffered a driveshaft failure on the run down Duffus Dip on the opening lap.

Max Hall: “To come away with two podium finishes is great but I’m obviously a little disappointed that the main championship title is now out of reach; although I’ve got to say a massive congratulations to my team-mate Dan [Zelos] because he’s fully deserving of the crown.

“Since the moment that we first rolled out the car on Friday morning we had serious pace and we managed to be maintain that through every session. Hooking those laps up in qualifying was vitally important as it put us in a great position for all three races.

“We had to work hard for both podiums but I managed to defend well and position the car in all the right place. It’s obviously really disappointing that we had a mechanical issue off the start in the final race but that’s just how it goes.

“Brands Hatch is next up for us so hopefully we can go there, win a few more races and hopefully come away with the Rookie Cup title; that would be a great way to end the season."

The final round of the 2024 Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW takes place around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on October 5-6.