The British Automobile Racing Club made a splash in North Yorkshire this past weekend (September 7/8) as Croft Circuit played host to the first-ever MINI Festival in challenging weather conditions.

In what was a celebration for one of the most iconic cars in the world, the two-day event saw a bumper crowd flock through the gates to witness a 14-race programme, paddock displays, track parades and live entertainment.

Headlining the action around the 2.12-mile course were the latest three races from the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy; which is building towards a thrilling crescendo when it comes to the fight for the overall title.

Race one – which was the only relatively dry contest of Saturday and Sunday – saw Chandler Motorsport’s Rhys Hurd take advantage of Harry Hickton being wiped out of the lead to claim his latest win of the season.

The remainder of the weekend arguably belonged to EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Gabe Fairbrother as he scored a maiden victory in the one-make series in race two and then quickly doubled his tally by repeating the feat in a rain-soaked finale.

As they have done throughout the entirety of the 2024 season, Stephen Berry and Ross Alexander proved to be the cream of the crop when it came to the MINI CHALLENGE Clubsport with Airtec Motorsport.

The pair, who had shared every win on offer heading into Croft, continued to rule the roost with last year’s overall winner Berry adding two more wins to his tally. Alexander didn’t let Berry have things his own way though and he was able to score a win of his own too.

While Berry was unable to clinch a hat-trick of wins in the Clubsport category, a third victory of the weekend was achieved when he came out on top of the 40-minute MINI Enduo contest ahead of Jamie Ringer and Charlie Newton-Darby.

Elsewhere, Neven Kirkpatrick and David Kirkpatrick proved to be too much for the opposition in the Mighty Minis Championship as they claimed a brace of one-two finishes whilst Jamie Blake and Chad Little shared the spoils in the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup.

Rounding out the weekend’s track action were the final two races of the season for the Heroes of FF1600 Sprint Cup, which has been a popular addition to the BARC roster since debuting earlier this year.

Showcasing an iconic blend of single-seater machines from yesteryear, the fledgling series closed out its campaign with Lucas Romanek powering his Van Diemen RF88 to a brace of commanding race wins.

To view the full classification of results from the Croft MINI Festival, CLICK HERE.