Success as All Groom Motorsport defies odds and completes weekend at Croft
Another weekend for the Mini Challenge UK Series has come and gone at Croft Circuit, and it’s been a rough couple of weeks for All Groom Motorsport. After a race weekend at Donington saw the team with no engine and other damaged parts of their Mini, which unfortunately meant that they were unable to compete in the final race of the day, it was looking unlikely that the family-owned team would make an appearance at Croft a few weeks later.
There were still some final preparations to be made on the car before the practice on Friday, so that was prioritised, but thankfully due to the teams’ persistence and determination, and despite their trailer breaking down in between race weekends, the team were able to replace the parts needed for the car and make their way to Croft.
During Friday testing, there were a few teething issues that meant Finn wasn’t able to extract the most out of the car, but testing went smoothly and they were able to fix these issues before qualifying the following day. Come Saturday, qualifying was looking promising for Finn and by the half way mark he was P9 and headed back out on track to aim to find a slipstream from one of the other drivers. Although he did finally catch up to a group of cars, he got stuck behind a slower moving car, messing up his lap resulting in him getting P17 in qualifying for both races.
On Sunday, Finn was able to get off to a great start in race one, and was able to advance up the order, making several overtakes.By the end he had finished P13, and P4 in the rookie class. Sadly, race two didn't go to plan as the ABS (Anti-lock braking system) on the car had failed on the way to the grid. A subsequent incident down into turn one meant that Finn had lost a lot of positions, which he then steadily gained back as he made his way through the pack, finishing race two in P16.
Despite the struggles that Finn and his team had this weekend, showing up with just a two-man team should be celebrated as a win on its own. Finn was able to showcase more of his racecraft throughout both races. We spoke with Finn about how he feels for the last remaining race on the Mini Challenge UK calendar.
“The weekend overall felt like a win to us, we managed to get the car back out after our previous drama, and to finish a race P13 overall and P4 rookie felt like a massive achievement. Bring on Brands for a Top 10 finish over all.”
We wish Finn the best of luck for his final round which will take place at Brands Hatch and can be watched on ITV4 and ITVX.