The British Automobile Racing Club took centre stage at Brands Hatch this past weekend (November 5/6) for an action-packed two days of wet racing which culminated in champions being crowned across a number of different championships.
In front of a sell-out trackside crowd, fireworks flew both on and off the Indy circuit as title battles went down to the wire in what were at times challenging conditions.
Headlining the action were five colossal contests from the British Truck Racing Championship, where everything was very much all to play for across both Division 1 and Division 2.
As has been the case for the past six years, the destiny of the Division 1 title went the way of Ryan Smith. Proving to be the cream of the crop in the series’ premier class, the MAN Truck driver converted his healthy points advantage into championship glory.
Pole position in qualifying was followed up by three commanding victories, all of which were enough to secure him the coveted title. Wins also fell the way of hometown hero Steven Powell and Craig Reid – who concluded his maiden season in the category with a first win.
The battle for supremacy in Division 2 went down to the wire as Luke Garrett narrowly pipped Brad Smith to the title. In what was a captivating back-and-forth duel for the top prize, two wins and a third proved to be enough for Garrett to recapture the title he last won in 2019.
Smith would secure a win of his own in the finale however that, along with a handful of other strong results, still wasn’t sufficient for him to overhaul Garrett. Arguably one of the standout performers during the weekend was Jock Borthwick, who mastered the wet conditions to perfection to clinch pole position and two commanding race wins.
The Legends Cars National Championship saw one of its closest-ever finishes as Miles Rudman successfully retained his title to be crowned a three-time champion.
Bringing the curtain down on a mesmerising battle, Britain’s much-loved 5/8 scale racing machines had fans on the edge-of-their-seats as Rudman and Will Gibson went wheel-to-wheel for the title.
Despite enduring a rollercoaster time at the Kent track, victory and two further podium finishes proved to be the difference for Rudman to triumph. Gibson managed to score an emphatic hat-trick of wins whilst Rickie Leggatt and Ryan McLeish also ascended to the top step of the podium over the course of the weekend.
Third and tenth place finishes proved to be enough for Reece Jones to clinch the Pickup Truck Racing Championship for the first time. Entering the weekend sitting second in the standings, the absence of outgoing champion George Turiccki meant that Jones was in the box seat ahead of Sunday’s two races.
Producing two measured drivers, Jones shadowed Matt Simpson and Mark Willis to the chequered flag in race one before banking enough points in race two to wrap things up. Simpson – who has made sporadic appearances during the course of the year – scored victory in both bouts.
Nelson King capped off a superb year in the Quaife MINI CHALLENGE Trophy by wrapping up the overall title with a double win. Judging the wet conditions to perfection, the Graves Motorsport chalked up his 10th and 11th victories of the season in commanding style.
King nearly made it clean sweep too after narrowly missing out on victory in race three. With the championship in the bag, the new champion finished just over half a second behind Lee Pearce, who scooped the final win of the campaign on Sunday afternoon.
Rounding out the weekend’s track action were three sensational bouts from the Mini 7 Racing Club Winter Championship where Jeff Smith and Rupert Deeth enjoyed a share of the spoils.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Brands Hatch, CLICK HERE.
