Bradley Gravett endures a challenging weekend in the Vertu Mini Challenge Series

Bradley Gravett endured a challenging weekend in the Vertu Mini Challenge Series, finishing 11th before failing to finish the second race on the tight, twisting, circuit at Oulton Park.

With the 2024 season reaching its halfway stage, Gravett travelled to Cheshire off the back of a hectic weekend at Snetterton where he equalled his best results of the season and collected a brace of top six finishes.

However, things didn't go to plan for the Maidenhead driver in Cheshire, with problems arising from the very first practice session on the Friday.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport car suffered a gearbox issue in the opening session, leaving him sell off the pace and able to put just six laps on the board. The issue was fixed for the second session and Gravett was finally able to get some meaningful preparation under his belt, and this boosted confidence heading into Saturday's qualifying. The lack of practice cost him however, as rivals made greater improvements to leave Gravett down in ninth place.

Oulton is a difficult track to overtake on, due to its tight and twisting nature, but a storming start in Sunday's race saw him rocket up to fifth on the opening lap. Hopes of a podium finish were ended when he locked-up and headed towards the tight Island hairpin, giving rivals a chance to overtake. A five second penalty for exceeding track limits saw him slip further back and he ended up taking the chequered flag in 11th.

Despite losing ground at the start of race two, Gravett was able to work his way back into the top 10 when NAPA Racing team-mates Jamie Osborne and Lewis Selby clashed ahead at the final corner.

Electing to take the inside line to avoid a collision, Bradley was instead collected by Selby as he attempted to regain control, and this forced Gravett's retirement from the race - bringing a challenging weekend to a disappointing conclusion.

“I’m sure there are words to describe how the weekend panned out at Oulton Park, but I’m struggling to find them,” he said. “I felt confident on the back of some solid pace at Snetterton, and probably even more so despite the problems we had to contend with in testing considering we ended up inside the top six.

“I think it’s fair to say that that was as good as things got however, as the race weekend itself just didn’t go my way. Although I went quicker in qualifying, the loss of track time on Friday ultimately hampered my performance compared to the rest of the field and at a circuit like Oulton Park, you have to be at the front if you want to chase a top result.

“I made a good start in race one to climb up into the top five and for the first few laps, I felt we could actually be on for something special but then I started to struggle with the brakes a bit, particularly going into the hairpin.

“It meant I was a bit of a sitting duck and to cross the line back in tenth - and then lose another spot to track limits - was so disappointing considering what might have been.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t repeat the start in race two, but I was still making up places when the two NAPA cars clashed, and I had nowhere to go. It sums up my luck that they both managed to continue, whereas I was left on the side of the circuit with a heavily damaged car.

“The results this season have been far from what I was looking for and largely through no fault of my own, as I’ve had an unbelievable amount of misfortune in the opening half of the year. The summer break comes at a good time to hit the reset button and having discovered something on the car this weekend that I think had been holding us back, I’ll be looking to come out fighting when the action resumes.”

Bradley Gravett is supported by GERKO, Third Millennium, Ultimate Car Control, My Custom Workwear, Scalextric, Elite Vehicle Chargers, Flying TV, Bradbury Racing, VARANACCI and Tesouro Timepiece.