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Dan Zelos admitted he was delighted at securing a record-breaking third Vertu MINI CHALLENGE title after a dramatic end to the weekend at Knockhill.<\/p>\n
Going into the final race of the weekend, Zelos retained a slim chance of wrapping up the title with a round to go but everything changed on the opening lap when Max Hall slowed with a driveshaft issue and retired from the race.<\/p>\n
That left Zelos in a position where he could secure the title if he were to pick up at least 25 points from the race, with the champion spending much of the the race dicing for victory.<\/p>\n
Although a bid for the move on Nathan Edwards ultimately failed and dropped him down to fifth in the results, Zelos now has an unassailable lead in the standings due to the dropped scores he has in reserve, enabling him to successfully defend his crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really sure what to say as no-one told me it was possible going into that race – although it now appears most of the team knew I could do it,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOf course I didn\u2019t want to win the title like that with Max at the side of the road, particularly through no fault of his own, and it\u2019s a shame that we couldn\u2019t battle it out on the track.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the team has done a fantastic job this season to help give me the buffer in the points to wrap things up early, and it might not have been the most flattering way to win the crown, but we\u2019ve got it done with three races to go.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Zelos added that the level of competition this season had made a third title all the most satisfying, despite the lower numbers on the grid this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of rapid drivers in the MINI CHALLENGE and I\u2019ve coached some of those youngsters coming up from Coopers,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople like Max Hall, Nathan Edwards and Tom Ovenden – amongst others – can all be the JCW champion in future because they\u2019ve got the speed.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWinning this third title means a lot, particularly because we couldn\u2019t defend it back in 2021. We had a really tough year in 2022 so to now take the title back-to-back is an astonishing feeling. Nothing will beat the first title, but this runs it close.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_enable_image=”off” background_size=”contain” background_position=”center_left” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-11-at-17.07.54-2.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-08-11 at 17.07.54 (2)” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-11-at-17.07.54.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-08-11 at 17.07.54″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-11-at-17.07.54-1.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-08-11 at 17.07.54 (1)” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dan Zelos admitted he was delighted at securing a record-breaking third Vertu MINI CHALLENGE title after a dramatic end to the weekend at Knockhill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":25918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1462,1465],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-jcw"],"yoast_head":"\n