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Jamie Keates will return to the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy for a third successive season after confirming a return to the grid with Westbourne Motorsport.<\/strong><\/p>\n Keates is the third driver to be confirmed by the defending Cooper champions alongside Olivier Algieri and Luca Marinoni Osborne, and will be embarking on a full campaign after his 2024 programme came to an early end.<\/p>\n Despite only contesting the first three meetings, Keates was able to score a podium finish at Snetterton as well as his maiden win at Pembrey and will now look to build on that pace to launch a bid for title honours.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m extremely excited to join Westbourne Motorsport for the 2025 Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy,\u201d he said. \u201cWestbourne have been the gold standard of the championship in recent years and having guided Harry [Hickton] to the title last year, I have the upmost confidence in the their ability to give me a front-running car to challenge for the title.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAs far as my relationship with the team off-track, James Colburn has always been extremely welcoming and always made time for me, often being one of the first to congratulate me whenever I was on the podium. I hold him in extremely high regard and knowing he is involved made this decision very easy.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what we can do together and I\u2019m hopeful of making 2025 a year to remember.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Team boss James Colburn said he was pleased to name Keates as the third member of the multi-car line up for the new season.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to welcome Jamie to the team as he certainly proved the pace he naturally poses at the beginning of 2024,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is a proven race winner in the championship, and his and our sights are to make that into a championship challenge now.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cFrom a team perspective our job is to ensure that he is competing towards the front on a regular basis and that we give him the right environment to race, supporting him to be at his best.\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\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design.jpg” title_text=”Untitled design” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Untitled-design-2.jpg” title_text=”Untitled design-2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ 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":" Jamie Keates will return to the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy for a third successive season after confirming a return to the grid with Westbourne Motorsport. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":27157,"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-27154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-cooper"],"yoast_head":"\n