MAX HALL SPLASHES TO MINI CHALLENGE JCW VICTORY AT SNETTERTON

Max Hall maintained his sensational start to the 2024 Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW season at Snetterton this past weekend (May 25-26) as he mastered the wet conditions to claim a hard-fought third victory of the year.

The annual visit to the Norfolk venue brought with it ever-changing weather conditions however that didn’t stop the EXCELR8 Motorsport driver from making his mark as he claimed a commanding lights-to-flag victory in a pulsating finale.

In addition to his win, Hall also tallied a podium and two more points finishes to leave Snetterton sitting second in the overall Drivers’ Championship and with a healthy advantage at the top of the Rookie Cup standings, after taking two wins in that competition too.

After powering his way to second place in qualifying, the weekend’s opening race was the contest that had originally been scheduled to take place at Donington Park before adverse weather forced it to be cancelled.

Tasked with starting at the back of the grid, the Motorsport UK Academy driver arguably produced one of the drives of the race as he underlined his credentials as a current and future talent by charging through the field to take the chequered flag in sixth spot.

Starting higher up the order for the first of the three scheduled races at Snetterton, the front-wheel-drive ace continued to make his mark as he narrowly missed on clinching a podium finish after a frenetic drive.

Launching from sixth on the grid, Hall battled his way forward to as high as second at one stage before Nelson King found a way back past him. Seemingly cruising to third place, Hall would frustratingly be hit from behind in the closing stages and end the race back where he started.

Returning on Sunday for two more races, Hall started the reverse grid bout on pole position but a sluggish start saw him drop behind Jamie Osborne initially; however he wasted no time in fighting his way back to the front.

Despite managing a gearbox issue throughout the contest, Hall held firm out front but the pairing of King and Dan Zelos soon began to close in during the latter stages and on the final lap, Hall suffered a wild slide through Coram which ultimately dropped him to third.

Keen to bounce back from that frustration in the weekend’s final contest, Hall was perfection personified as he hit the front early on after starting on pole position and never looked back, even when heavy rain hit the circuit.

Max Hall: “What a weekend! I’m so happy to be able to end it on the top step of the podium because we arguably deserved to have scored a result like that much earlier on.

“We’ve had some gearbox issues that have hampered us over the course of the weekend and that was partly why I found myself having a moment at Coram on the last lap. The team at EXCELR8 got to the bottom of it thankfully and we were on the pace in that last race.

“To be standing here with three wins, sitting second in the championship and with a nice lead in the Rookie Cup is fantastic however I’m hungry for more. We’ve got a short break before Oulton Park so we’ll get our heads down and come out fighting when we go there next month.”

The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW now pauses for a month before re-commencing at Oulton Park on June 22-23.