{"id":28785,"date":"2025-06-07T16:16:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T15:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/?p=28785"},"modified":"2025-06-07T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T15:16:25","slug":"gabe-fairbrother-holds-on-for-race-one-honours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/06\/07\/gabe-fairbrother-holds-on-for-race-one-honours\/","title":{"rendered":"GABE FAIRBROTHER HOLDS ON FOR RACE ONE HONOURS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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GABE FAIRBROTHER HOLDS ON FOR RACE ONE HONOURS<\/h3>\n

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Gabe Fairbrother converted pole position into victory in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy race of the weekend at Thruxton – earning him a first win of the campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fairbrother had started from pole for EXCELR8, with the race taking place amidst changeable weather conditions with light rain starting to fall as the field headed out to the grid for the start.<\/p>\n

That resulted in CJ Morgan – who was nursing an engine issue on his car – electing to go with wet tyres, with the remainder of the grid sticking with slicks.<\/p>\n

Fairbrother held onto the lead at the start but by the end of the opening lap, had already been shuffled back to third spot as the effect of the tow became evident on the run up Woodham Hill – with Alex Keens and Rhys Hurd both getting ahead of the pole sitter heading into the final chicane.<\/p>\n

Ashley Gregory would join the lead trio in a four-way battle for the lead through the opening laps, with Hurd moving to the front on lap two before he then went off the road with a mechanical issue at Segrave to bring out the safety car.<\/p>\n

Once the action resumed on lap eight, Gregory took her turn at the front as she moved ahead of Keens, with a huge battle developing behind the top three that included James Sherrington, Olivier Algieri and newcomer Kieran Roberts.<\/p>\n

Alfie Garford was also in that gaggle of cars fighting for fourth and having made his way to the front of the group – briefly getting on two wheels after side-by-side contact on the run to the final corner – chased down the leaders.<\/p>\n

As rain intensified, Fairbrother got himself back to the front and was able to edge away from the battle behind, with Keens and Garford going wheel-to-wheel for second; the pair having dropped Gregory.<\/p>\n

Out front, Fairbrother held on to take the flag first after the extended 25 minute race just before the heavens opened for real, earning him his first victory of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was eventful with everyone on slicks in those conditions!\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you were at the front, you didn\u2019t know what grip there was going to be from one lap to the next, and when you weren\u2019t at the front, you didn\u2019t know if the car in front was going to find it or not!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a massive scrap from start to finish, and I\u2019m delighted to come out on top for my first win of the year; it\u2019s overdue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Behind, Garford was able to fend off Keens to bag his second podium finish of the campaign, matching the result he secured last time out at Brands Hatch and also securing victory in the Rookie Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that one means more than Brands Hatch as I had to really work for it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe conditions were awful but it helped to give us a real race and at one point we were four wide and a bit of a touch put me on two wheels. No two corners were the same and it was a case of trying to push to the edge without pushing over it\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Keens took third spot, and with it the championship lead, with Gregory capping a strong showing with fourth place.<\/p>\n

The battle in the pack behind would lose three of its members in the closing stages of the race, with Algieri forced to bring his car into the pits to retire two laps from the end and Harry Smith going off between Goodwood and Village to drop out of the fight.<\/p>\n

Sherrington also suffered a spin that saw him slide down the order and ultimately finish down outside the top ten.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was Luca Marinoni Osborne who emerged in fifth spot having climbed up eight places from his starting position although that was nothing compared to Jenson Mason who started at the very back of the field but came through the pack to finish sixth – a gain of 17 spots.<\/p>\n

Ronnie Smith took seventh ahead of Roberts, with Leo Purches and previous championship leader Josh Wilby rounding out the top ten.<\/p>\n

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Gabe Fairbrother converted pole position into victory in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy race of the weekend at Thruxton – earning him a first win of the campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28786,"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-28785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-cooper"],"yoast_head":"\nGABE FAIRBROTHER HOLDS ON FOR RACE ONE HONOURS - MINI CHALLENGE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/06\/07\/gabe-fairbrother-holds-on-for-race-one-honours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GABE FAIRBROTHER HOLDS ON FOR RACE ONE HONOURS - 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