A busy weekend at Brands sees Aaron Steele maintain his lead in Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge

Despite an incident for Aaron Steele; another race win, 2 x pole position and 2 x fastest laps have ensured he keeps the top spot for another week away, now just 4 points ahead of PTC racer Adrian Churchill.

It was a wet qualifying at Brands Hatch for the MSV F3 Cup but Aaron Steele, who has been a dominant force in this season’s F3 Cup and in the Sunoco Daytona Challenge, took another stunning pole position and 20 points towards the challenge.

The first race in F3 Cup was again rain soaked. Steele powered into the lead at the start and looked to extend his run of impressive wins. However, the 22 year old hit a patch of oil and slid into the gravel at Druids. Matt Draper also followed Steele into the gravel trap and the incident bought a premature end to the race on lap 16. Chris Needham was handed the victory and 100 points towards the Sunoco Daytona Challenge taking him to ninth place in the overall standings.

The second race saw Steele back on top after a fantastic drive to the chequered flag in tricky, damp conditions. This gave Steele the much needed 100 points towards the Sunoco Daytona Challenge in order to keep him ahead of Adrian Churchill.

Mini Challenge was also at Brands Hatch this weekend in the extremely wet conditions. Reigning champion Lee Allen claimed two victories worth 100 points each towards the Sunoco Daytona Challenge.

Race one was on a drying track but only lasted a matter of yards before it was red flagged. Nine cars were off between the entrance and exit of Paddock Hill Bend! Chris Knox, who scored 20 points for pole position, Sam Osbourne and Lee Allen had all got through. George Allen who was fourth on the grid had problems as he pulled away and mayhem ensured.

Chris Panayiotou and Martin Depper both speared off left and heavily into the Armco. Depper had to be cut from the car and taken to hospital for a check up, but was released relatively uninjured. The race wasn’t restarted so no points were given for race one.

Race two took part in dryer conditions and the grid lined up as it had done in the previous day’s race. It was red flags again with Gavin Bristow and Stewart Lines in the barriers approaching Paddock.

After a few more race incidents the grid reformed again, the rain arrived as they headed out on the green flag lap. Lee Allen took the chequered flag and took his win by over 35 seconds claiming 100 points towards the Sunoco Daytona Challenge. Luke Caudle took second and 75 points and Jason Richardson took the final podium place and 55 points towards the challenge.

It was still wet for the final race of the weekend, and everyone was desperate just to stay on the track after the previous two eventful races. Lee Allen again took the win and 100 points with Chris Knox hot on his tail who finished second taking 75 points towards the challenge. Chris Panayiotou rounded off the top three taking 55 points.

After a fantastic weekend for Lee Allen he has moved up 2 places in the overall challenge standings, from tenth to eighth position.

GT Cup also raced at a busy Brands Hatch this weekend and saw Andy Ruhan in GT Cup class 1 take 2 x second places worth 75 points each towards the challenge. Although he did increase his average point score, a fantastic weekend from Gary Duckman in PTC saw Andy down one place into fifth ad Gary promoted to fourth from seventh.

The PTC raced at Donington and Duckman was dominant throughout the whole weekend taking points for 2 out of 3 wins, fastest lap and pole position. Adrian Churchill remains in second place in the overall standings after scoring points for 2 x second places, a win and 2 x fastest laps.

Britcar Production races this weekend at Castle Combe and will give all registered racers another chance to score points towards the challenge. You can keep up with the latest on our twitter feed @RacingAAOC and on Facebook, just search for Racing News AAOC.