Tough times for Bradley Gravett on home soil

Bradley Gravett will look to fight back in round three of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE season at Snetterton after enduring one of his toughest weekends in the series at Brands Hatch.

Bradley went into the weekend looking to maintain his position inside the top six in the championship standings, having scored a best finish of fifth during the opening meeting at Donington Park - where he also posted the fastest lap of the weekend.

The weekend started in positive fashion for Bradley when he set the third quickest time during Friday testing at the wheel of his EXCELR8 Motorsport-run car, setting a best time just two-tenths of a second off the pace.

Although he improved on that time in qualifying, the tight nature of the field meant he had to settle for the ninth best time, with his second quickest time leaving him 13th on the grid for race one once a six place grid penalty carried over from round one had been applied.

Unfortunately for Bradley, the three races at his home circuit would prove to be frustrating affairs, with a lap one clash on the run to Druids putting him into retirement in the opening race.

Having raced his way forwards from 14th on the grid to seventh within four laps, Bradley would then be forced to retire a second time in race two when he clipped a kerb at Paddock Hill Bend and lost the rear of his car, sliding off into the gravel where he was tagged by Tom Ovenden and almost collected by Matt Hammond.

That double DNF made race three vital for Bradley to put points on the board, and a P12 finish allowed him to come away from the weekend just outside the top ten in the standings, with his focus turning towards improved results at Snetterton.

That event will feature four races, with the one abandoned due to poor weather at Donington Park being rescheduled for Saturday afternoon.

"There were positives to take away from the weekend as the weather has been gorgeous and with Brands Hatch being my home circuit, it wasn’t a long trip home to my own bed!” he said. “In all seriousness, there is no hiding the fact that it’s been a really difficult weekend and the results are far from what I was hoping for, especially when you consider that I scored my first podium finish here last season.

“I don’t want to make excuses but the simple fact is that I haven’t done much testing this season and some of the tweaks that have been made to the JCW over the winter have really changed the characteristics of the car, and it’s been tricky to get the most from it.

“That said, I was on the back foot a bit coming into the weekend with the grid penalty from Donington Park and starting from the back in race one was always going to be tough at a track where the times are so close. I’m confident that I could have raced my way forward, but then I got forced off onto the grass and had to retire - and it summed up my weekend that I was deemed to be at fault and got given another penalty.

“Race two started well and I was making up places, and I have to hold my hands up to the mistake in race two as I just hit the kerb too hard and lost the rear end. It meant I went into race three knowing we had to get a finish and some points on the board, and that was achieved with P12, which is obviously far less than I was hoping for at my home event.

“I’m not going to dwell on this weekend as it is one that I just have to accept has happened and put behind me. If anything, I need to take the disappointment from this weekend and use it as fuel to push even harder for strong results next time out at Snetterton.”

Bradley Gravett is supported by GERKO, Third Millennium, Ultimate Car Control, My Custom Workwear, Scalextric, Elite Vehicle Chargers, Flying TV, Bradbury Racing, Tesouro Timepiece.