Wera Alliance Racing Academy ends Mini Challenge Trophy season with double top-15 at Brands Hatch
The all-female Wera Alliance Racing Academy squadron rounded out its first season of Mini Challenge Trophy competition with a double top 15 finish amid a chaotic Brands Hatch round, headlined by Ellena and Beanie Reece's efforts in the final two races to end the year on a high. Elsewhere in the garage, Liona Theobald spearheaded the team's effort in race one, as Lexie Powell had her most competitive round to date, as she firmly put herself in the mix against much more experienced opposition.
Ellena and Beanie Reece led the all-female Wera Alliance Racing Academy to a double top-15 finish at the Brands Hatch finale of Mini Challenge Trophy, as Liona Theobald and Lexie Powell also showed strong pace in the last round of the season.
The final weekend of the Mini Challenge Trophy season, which featured three races around the Indy layout of Brands Hatch, saw its on-track action start on Saturday, with the only qualifying session of the weekend. Beanie spearheaded the team's charge in qualifying, by setting the 15th-fastest time, with Theobald and Powell close behind in 17th and 18th, while Ellena was 20th.
Second-fastest laps from qualifying set the grid for race one, from which Powell started 15th, as she shared the row with Beanie, while Theobald and Ellena were 18th and 20th. On the opening lap, Beanie kept her starting position, while Powell slipped to 17th, as Theobald and Ellena were 19th and 20th respectively. Three laps later, both Beanie dropped to 17th, while Theobald passed Powell to move up a place, before jumping Beanie three laps later to lead the quartet. As the clock ran out, the squadron kept their places as Theobald finished 17th, directly ahead of Beanie, Powell and Ellena.
Race two began Sunday's action, which used race one's finishing positions to determine the grid. Theobald and Ellena both had strong starts, moving up to 16th and 17th on the opening lap, as Powell and Beanie closely followed them in 18th and 19th. Beanie then began a duel with Louis Fleet, which saw her retain her position by lap six, before she fell down the order a lap later. The remaining trio then moved up a place when Richard Jepp fell down the order, as Ellena crossed the line in 15th, ahead of Powell in 16th. By the end, Beanie finished 20th, whilst Theobald was relegated to 21st after incurring a four-place penalty for causing a collision.
Later that Sunday, race three commenced, in which the grid was determined by the fastest laps from qualifying. The final race of the season started on a tough note, as Ellena and Powell were taken out on the first lap at Graham Hill Bend, which necessitated a red flag to clean up the track. When the race restarted, now shortened to 15 minutes, Beanie held her 15th place from start to finish, while Theobald struggled to make up ground and fell to 18th by the end.
Over in the drivers' standings, Theobald closed out the season as the highest-ranked driver from the all-female Wera Alliance Racing Academy quartet in 13th, with Powell ending a promising rookie year in 16th, while Beanie and Ellena closed out the season 17th and 18th respectively.
