Tom Ovenden took a victory and two top ten finishes at his home round of the Power Maxed Mini Challenge at Brands Hatch at the weekend.

After being disqualified from qualifying due to a tyre infringement on Saturday he was up against it in race one, he started from second to last before coming through to take sixth place.

In the reverse grid race, Ovenden emerged victorious from a dramatic second race of the weekend at Brands Hatch on Sunday and with that took his fourth win of the season.

The points leader has produced a strong recovery drive from the back of the grid to finish inside in sixth spot which meant he would line up on the second row, with Owen Hillman lining up on pole.

Hillman was jumped at the start by Olivier Algieri as he grabbed the lead going into turn one, with Ovenden following his team-mate through into second spot before the action was halted to allow for the recovery of two cars from the side of the circuit.

The action resumed behind the safety car with twelve minutes left on the clock, with Algieri retaining the lead but under increasing pressure from Ovenden as he looked to add to his three wins from Donington Park.

The rookie gained some breathing space when Ovenden came under pressure from Josh Porter for second, with Porter briefly managing to get ahead only for Ovenden and Max Edmundson to then move through when the EXCELR8 man ran wide at Graham Hill Bend.

Ovenden then set off after Algieri once again and closed down the leader with the pair nose-to-tail going onto the final lap.

The defending champion saw his chance to get ahead going through Paddock Hill Bend and up to Druids, taking the lead and holding on for the remainder of the lap to deny Algieri the victory.

“Olivier was driving so well, I didn’t think it was going to happen,” Ovenden said. “After the disappointment of being excluded from qualifying, I wasn’t thinking about taking a win but we lose as a team and we win as a team – so it’s great to get that win.”

Algieri had to settle for second spot, which still marked his maiden JCW podium, with Edmundson rounding out the podium in third – barely a tenth of a second ahead of Porter.

Joe Tanner battled his way to fifth having joined the lead battle, with Charlie Hand, Nathan Edwards and Hillman rounding out the top eight.

Following his race one retirement, Sam Gornall rose twelve places to take ninth with the top ten completed by Harry Hickton.

The final race of the weekend was equally dramatic for Ovenden, as he tried to climb the order he was pushed out onto the grass, and then from having started on the second to last row on the grid. He managed to save it and battle into the top ten to score valuable points.

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