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Nathan Edwards maintained his impressive qualifying form to secure the final pole of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE season at Brands Hatch.<\/strong><\/p>\n The EXCELR8 racer topped the times for the third time in seven qualifying sessions this season, and was also quickest on second fastest times although a grid penalty from Knockhill will demote him three places on the grid for the opening race.<\/p>\n Max Hall had set the pace after an early red flag caused by Lee Allen finding the gravel at the final corner before Edwards moved to the front of the pack, with his time of 1:36.856 proving to be unbeatable as he headed Hall for pole.<\/p>\n Edwards\u2019 second best time would also have been good enough for top spot, as would his third – given he was the only driver to lap below 1:37s.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the most poles this year, so I\u2019m really happy with that,\u201d he said, \u201cand even more so because we did the double. We should have done it at Knockhill but lost a time to track limits, so it\u2019s nice to do it here.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cObviously I have the penalty to take in race one but that\u2019s fine as we\u2019re in a good place with the tyres we were able to save when we had a tough weekend at Croft a few rounds back – and we have to maximise it.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, I felt we could have gone quicker – but I didn\u2019t want to go out and risk pushing too hard\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Rookie Cup leader Hall had to settle for second place on the times, and will start race one from pole due to Edwards\u2019 penalty, with Josh Porter enjoying his best qualifying performance to date as he slotted into third spot with a lap just 0.091s down on Hall.<\/p>\n Porter is joined on the second row by Dominic Wheatley as he looked to add to his maiden JCW win at Knockhill, with Directors Cup winner Lewis Selby the leading non-EXCELR8 man as he went fifth fastest at the wheel of his NAPA Racing UK-run car.<\/p>\n Tom Ovenden, Lydia Walmsley and Jamie Osborne rounded out the top eight, just ahead of Cooper graduate Harry Hickton as he overcame a brief off-track moment to qualify inside the top ten.<\/p>\n The JCW Sport pole looked to be going the way of Ben Crossley until the final moments of the session when Dylan Hotchin moved to the head of the pack seconds before the session was halted for a second time when Albert Webster slid off at turn one.<\/p>\n That means an extra six bonus points as Hotchin looks to wrap up the title this weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew when I started that it was a good lap,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were on new rubber and it\u2019s a good boost in the points. I know what we need to do in the races and I\u2019m not planning to take risks I don\u2019t need to take.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Crossley will start race one from the class pole, with Cameron Richardson Webster following behind on the grid for both race one and race three.<\/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\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-10-05-at-12.04.24.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-10-05 at 12.04.24″ _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\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-10-05-at-12.04.24-1.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-10-05 at 12.04.24 (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":" Nathan Edwards maintained his impressive qualifying form to secure the final pole of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE season at Brands Hatch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26309,"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":[1462,1465,1506],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-jcw","category-jcw-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n