Neil Newstead has continued to lead his championship pursuit in the Power Maxed Mini Challenge in fine style by taking victory in race two at Oulton Park.

Newstead started the day off on a high placing his Oakfield Motorsport JCW Mini Cooper on pole during a 15 minute qualifying session. The confidence that Newstead has at the moment shone through when he secured his fastest lap time of 1.54.929 on lap 2; good enough to be four tenths ahead of second place Hamish Brandon.

Race 1 was red flagged after a heavy incident at Lakeside involving a number of cars, Newstead struggled with the restart and out braked himself going into Cascades, which resulted in him dropping to P6. With confidence in his pace he had made back 2 places before he had come back round to start lap 2, along the pit straight with a superior exit speed from Dear Leap went back to P 3, then on lap 3 with a brave move into Old Hall Corner Newstead took P2, with the race shorted from 20 minutes to 12 minutes, Newstead was unable to pass leader Brandon.

Race 2 of the day saw a grid reversal of the top 5 finishers, slotting Newstead into fourth place. This time Newstead aced his start moving straight to P2 off the start line, with another incident that sent multiple cars off the track the safety car was deployed. Once the safety car was neutralised, Newstead set about passing Kevin O’Conner, which did not take him long with a perfect move up the inside at Hislops, Newstead lead the race and took the chequered flag.

Newstead continues to lead the Power Maxed Mini Challenge Championship JCW Class with 729 points from Brandon with 592 points.

The next round of the Power Maxed Mini Challenge Championship will be at Donington Park GP on the 19/20 September.

“What a brilliant couple of days, again the team around me have made this happen, my car was completely stripped following the incident at Brands Hatch and then rebuilt. To be able to arrive on Friday and jump straight into the car with no shake down is so impressive, I have so much confidence with this car and the team around me. I am so happy that I continue to lead the Championship and am not taking anything for granted, it’s so much about the preparation before the race. My thanks again go to my partners and sponsors: Best of British partner Corbeau Seats, Chandlers of Hailsham, Oakfield Estate Agents, SDS Builders & Decorators, Stu Lane.com and Teng Tools.”
– Neil Newstead