Ashley Gregory fights for race victory, secures P2 finish at Snetterton

Ashley Gregory secured a season’s best finish in the Mini Challenge Trophy as she charged through to score a runner-up finish in race three at Snetterton, having earlier claimed the overall fastest lap in race one in a hugely positive weekend for the Excelr8 Motorsport driver.

Photo credits: JEP

Ashley Gregory secured a season’s best finish in the Mini Challenge Trophy as she charged through to score a runner-up finish in race three at Snetterton, having earlier claimed the overall fastest lap in race one in a hugely positive weekend for the Excelr8 Motorsport driver.

Gregory enjoyed a promising start to the season at Silverstone where she competed with the leading group of drivers throughout the event. Achieving a best result of fourth, Gregory narrowly missed out on a podium finish as she began her championship challenge. Now arriving in Norfolk for round two, Snetterton has traditionally been a good circuit for Ashley in previous seasons and in 2025 she began the campaign with a runner-up finish as she established herself as a consistent frontrunner.

The weekend’s action began on Friday as the drivers participated in two free practice sessions. It was a positive day of running for Gregory who set the eighth fastest time overall with a quickest lap of a 2:21.242. With significantly larger margins throughout the field compared to Silverstone, Gregory had established herself as a podium-contending driver from the outset.

Qualifying was held early on Saturday morning and with a new set of tyres available to all the drivers, the lap times improved significantly. At the halfway point of the thirty-minute session, Gregory was in seventh position with a time of a 2:19.655. Throughout the top-10, few drivers improved in the second half of the session with Gregory ending the session in eighth position. This was a solid result for the Excelr8 Motorsport driver who was less than a quarter of a second away from third.

The first race at Snetterton took place on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times from qualifying, Gregory started from ninth position. As the lights went out, it was a clean start at the head of the field with Ashley completing lap one in tenth position. Although losing one spot from her grid position, Gregory was keen to fight back and with Richard Jepp receiving a time penalty for a false start just ahead, there was already a chance to move forward.

On lap three, Gregory passed Jepp on track to move into ninth before setting her sights on Irish racer Leo Richardson. While running in third position, an off-track moment for Alex Keens dropped the reigning champion down the order and therefore Gregory was now up to eighth. Gregory was keen to close in on the top-5 and after setting the overall fastest lap of the race, the Excelr8 Motorsport driver was gaining further momentum.

The battles just inside the top-10 were closely contested and although the lead group was now breaking away, there were still opportunities to move forward. After Jepp moved back ahead on lap six, he closed in on Richardson with Gregory looking to capitalise on any contact ahead. Gregory completed the move on Richardson during the final lap as she took the chequered flag in eighth position, later promoted to seventh following the time penalty applied to Jepp, while claiming the bonus points for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Photo credits: JEP

Race two of the weekend was held on Sunday morning with the top-12 finishers from race one reversed in order to set the grid. This meant that Gregory lined up from sixth position and the Excelr8 Motorsport driver was targeting a podium challenge from the third row of the grid. Gregory made an excellent start and used her experience to move forward on the opening lap as she completed lap one in second position.

Race leader Alex Keens had opened out a small margin in the early stages and Gregory was looking to close in on the Graves Motorsport driver with the leading quartet beginning to pull out a gap to those behind. However, the slipstream effect remained powerful and on lap three, Gregory was shuffled back to fourth position behind both Josh Selvadorai and Harry Smith.

After re-passing Smith on lap three, the leading pair of Keens and Selvadorai began breaking clear with Gregory forced to defend once again. Race one winner Luca Marinoni Osborne then began mounting a challenge on Gregory and he moved ahead on lap five. Marinoni Osborne and Gregory then began working together and they pulled a small margin over fifth-place driver Isaac Doble as the race entered the final third.

On lap six, the safety car was deployed after the cars of Beanie Reece, Adam Curtis and Ellena Reece stopped out on circuit in two separate incidents. The neutralisation period remained for the rest of the race and therefore Gregory took the chequered flag in fourth position, narrowly missing out on a podium finish.

Photo credits: JEP

The final race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon and Gregory lined up from seventh position courtesy of her qualifying result of eighth, while a penalty for Chris Doble elevated the Excelr8 Motorsport driver up a further place. Gregory made a clean start and completed lap one in eighth position as the leading eight drivers began opening up an advantage in the early stages.

On lap two, a technical issue for Josh Selvadorai saw the MRM driver slow with Gregory now in seventh position. After setting the overall fastest first sector on lap three, Gregory closed in Harry Smith and using her momentum to good effort, she overtook the Performancetek Racing driver for sixth.

The leading group were further extending their margin over the remainder of the field and after completing a fantastic move on Henry Foote, Gregory was inside the top-5. Immediately after clearing the Race Car Consultants machine, Foote and Smith made contact at Coram with the fight for the victory now between the leading quintet.

The racing up front remained close and after track limits penalties were assessed to both Alex Keens and Matt Luff, Gregory was running in a net third position. Although Gregory dropped back from the leaders in the closing stages, she was racing smartly as the final lap began.

As the first four drivers ran side-by-side through the majority of the last lap, Gregory closed in. Exiting Brundle and Nelson, Gregory got a good run into Coram and she then pulled off a phenomenal move to the outside of both Keens and Luff. Despite her rivals carrying track limit penalties, Gregory secured third position at the final corner while missing out on the overall race victory by just a quarter of a second. It was a superb drive from Gregory who used her experience to progress from seventh on the grid to finish in third, before later being promoted to second following a penalty for race winner Joshua Wilby.

It was a superb end to the weekend for Gregory who underlined her championship credentials by fighting for podium results. Smart racing from the Excelr8 Motorsport driver throughout the event resulted in a large points haul as she moved to seventh in the overall standings.

The Mini Challenge Trophy drivers return to action at Pembrey on the weekend of 20th/21st June.