Adisham’s Tom Ovenden couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2026 Power Maxed Mini Challenge last weekend, taking a trio of victories and in doing so picked up where he left off last season.
The defending champion Tom Ovenden enjoyed the perfect start to his title defence, with a double pole position and then three straight victories including the reverse grid race at Donington Park last weekend.
Ovenden started the final race of the weekend from pole position after topping qualifying and was able to retain his lead at the front when the lights went out to get the action underway as he maintained position ahead of Olivier Algieri and Harry Hickton.
Before Ovenden had a chance to build too much of a lead however, the action was halted after an incident involving Charlie Hand and Archie Johnson coming out the final corner.
Hand got out of shape whilst dicing in the midfield pack and having gone sideways in front of the pack behind, was collected by an unsighted Johnson – who found himself with nowhere to go when Cameron Richardson ahead suddenly jinked to the side to avoid Hand’s car.
The action was halted to allow medical teams to attend to Hand – who would be taken to the medical centre before being released with a sprained ankle – and to recover the two damaged cars from the circuit.
The race would ultimately be shortened to ten minutes and restarted behind the safety car, with Ovenden able to ease away from the fight for second – taking the flag four seconds clear of his nearest rival.
Having also set the fastest lap, Ovenden ensured a maximum score from the weekend with pole and all three wins alongside a hat-trick of fastest laps to take the early advantage in the title race.
Speaking after the weekend, Ovenden said: “It’s been alright this weekend – I’ve certainly had worse!”
“To be honest, I’m struggling to find the words to describe what’s happened as a weekend like this is something you only really dream of and the car has been absolutely awesome.
“I do love this circuit and it really suits my driving style, whereas there are tracks to come later in the year where I know I have work do to. I could never have expected to come here and score maximum points, and it’s the best possible start to my title defence.”
Behind Ovenden, Algieri held second from Hickton on the restart but Hickton was soon overhauled for third by Sam Gornall, who then launched his bid for second on Algieri at turn one.
Team-mate Max Edmundson was following him up the order and climbed to third before getting ahead three laps from the end to score second spot, despite Gornall doing his best to reclaim the position before the end.
Algieri would end up taking fourth spot ahead of Nathan Edwards and Joe Tanner, with a huge battle behind for seventh spot.
That battle would rage until the final lap when five cars into one heading up to McLeans didn’t go, resulting in Ned Anthony ending up in the gravel having been fighting for position with team-mate Alex Solley.
Solley ended up seventh from Owen Hillman, with the top ten completed by Hickton – who found himself shuffled down the order – and Cemil Cipa.
Next up is a trip to his home circuit of Brands Hatch on 9th and 10th May.
Images courtesy of https://psp-images.photoshelter.com