Super Mighty Mini Brands Hatch Report 2016

After two thrilling races at Donnington Park, where Alex Comis was unlucky to have not made it 4-out-of-4 wins due to a red flag in the last race, the Super Mighty Minis Championship moved on to Brands Hatch and the Mini Festival.

As the mid-July Sun, temperature and humidity rose, qualifying was soon under way. Comis in the number 41 Mini Spares car was up at the sharp end and by the end of the session, had secured 3rd on the grid, 2 tenths off pole. So close was the field, 1 second covered the top 10 cars. Back in the paddock and preparing the car for the 1st race, Comis gave us his impression of qualy:

“It’s always close here and 3rd is good, but there were a couple of areas I think I could have made up some time. The race should be good, I suspect it will be very close.”

With the sun now beating down in no uncertain terms, the start procedure signified the start of round 5. Comis made a reasonable start and was in the thick of the action going in to the infamous Paddock Hill bend. As the race unfolded, Comis dropped a couple of places but so close was the racing, it was impossible to keep up with all the position changes from corner to corner. From mid-race, Comis found himself in a thrilling battle for 3rd with Bob Bennetts. Though Comis found himself leading Bennetts, a long-range lunge saw Bennetts get ahead on the apex of Druid’s. Comis was hounding Bennets for lap after lap as they chased down the lead two. Exiting Clearways for the last time, Comis had the run. With the chequered flag in sight, it was a sprint to the line as Comis pulled out to take advantage of his momentum. At the line, Comis missed out on 3rd by just a couple of hundredths of a second.

“I’m gutted to have missed out on 3rd. I had the pace to be up with the lead 2 cars but sometimes things don’t quite work out. It was an epic race though.”

Race two, and with reverse grids for the top 8, Comis would start from 5th. Another solid start saw Comis challenge for 3rd in to Paddock Hill. With the pack all fighting for the same piece of track, there was some amazingly close, breath-taking racing. By quarter distance, Comis had slipped back through the pack but was beginning to pick off places and by mid point, was sizing up 5th place. Contact ahead saw two cars disappear in to the gravel trap with one, unfortunately, being pitched in to a role. Though the drives were fine, the red flag brought the race to a halt. As the race was stopped at half distance, it would be re-started with a 5 minute sprint.

At the restart, Comis made another solid start. If the 1st part of the race was close, the restart was just unbelievable. By the last lap, Comis seemed to be struggling for pace but was challenging Ian Slark for 4th. A mistake by Slark on the last corner gave Comis the run and again, Comis found himself chasing down a position to the chequered flag. At the line, it was a case of deja vu as, again, a couple of hundredths prevented Comis from gaining another position.

“Yeah that was a bit of a manic race. There were a few wild moves and I think someone falling off was always a real possibility, though it’s never good to see it happen. Glad both driver are ok, though. I don’t know what the issue was but I was struggling on a couple of corners. I’ll do some checks to see if there was anything with the car, but another epic battle though just a little frustrating to miss out at the line for a second time this weekend.”

After a super hot pair of races at Brands, the Super Mighty Minis moves on to Silverstone for rounds 7 & 8, mid August.

Importation rules regarding vehicles are very specific: Only those over 25 years in age may be brought in to the USA without compilance to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).