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The fight for the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy will go to the wire after another dramatic race at Brands Hatch saw Harry Hickton score a fifth victory of the season – and move into the championship lead.<\/strong><\/p>\n The race had kicked off with youngster Leo Purches on pole position but the Graves Motorsport man was slow away from the line as Alex Solley instead moved into the lead from Ronnie Smith.<\/p>\n Ashley Gregory briefly held third before a sideways moment at Graham Hill Bend dropped her back into the pack, and she then clashed with Purches going into Paddock Hill on lap two.<\/p>\n That saw Purches slide off into the gravel where his car dug in and rolled, bringing out the red flag and leading to the grid being reformed for the restart.<\/p>\n This time, Solley led the field away before being overhauled mid-way through the opening lap by Smith, who held top spot through to a safety car period called to recover the car of Cameron Wood from the edge of of the circuit after a spin on the exit of Surtees.<\/p>\n Smith led the field away at the restart with Hickton having moved up into second spot, whilst Gabe Fairbrother ran behind in third.<\/p>\n Hickton made his move for the lead on lap six and was quickly followed by Fairbrother, with the pair battling for the lead before contact on lap ten at Surtees saw both run off track.<\/p>\n As they rejoined, Hickton clipped Smith and tipped him into a spin, whilst Fairbrother was delayed enough to let Black through into the lead.<\/p>\n Fairbrother then came under pressure from Alex Solley for position at Graham Hill Bend where contact between the two saw Fairbrother spin off into the gravel just as the red flag was thrown out, in part due to the fact that Katia Loggie\u2019s car was stuck in the gravel.<\/p>\n The result of the race was then rolled back a lap which meant Hickton was classified in first spot ahead of Fairbrother and Smith, although Fairbrother was later handed a penalty for gaining an unfair advantage when fighting Solley earlier in the race and dropped back to fifth.<\/p>\n It promoted Black up to third from Solley, with Fairbrother and Rhys Hurd then rounding out the top six.<\/p>\n Alex Keens took seventh with erstwhile points leader Sam Gornall having to settle for eighth, which drops him behind Hickton in the standings with one race to go.<\/p>\n Alongside the Westbourne Motorsport team-mates, Black and Solley retain slim title chances for Graves Motorsport but will need luck on their side to grab top spot in the standings. <\/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\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-11-03-at-12.31.25.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-11-03 at 12.31.25″ _builder_version=”4.27.2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-11-03-at-12.31.27.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-11-03 at 12.31.27″ _builder_version=”4.27.2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The fight for the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy will go to the wire after another dramatic race at Brands Hatch saw Harry Hickton score a fifth victory of the season – and move into the championship lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26669,"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":[1462,1466],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-cooper"],"yoast_head":"\n