Ian Aguilera snatched his maiden Ginetta Junior victory in a shortened Ginetta Junior race at Brands Hatch.
The R Racing driver managed to pass Aqil Alibhai for the race lead just moments before a safety car neutralised the race. The safety car was switched out for a red flag and the race would not resume, granting Aguilera the victory.
The race one incident for Joe Warhurst meant Warhurst wouldn’t start race two. It left Alibhai alone on the front row of the grid. Liam McNeilly soon joined him in the battle for the lead, while Aguilera led a four car battle for third.
The leaders briefly broke away, but the P3 battle soon closed the gap again, making it a multi-car battle for the race lead.
McNeilly was shuffled back down the order and contract between Mckenzie Douglass and Luke Watts took the pair out of the lead fight.
Alibhai was now leading a four car train with 15 minutes left on the clock. Aguilera, Harri Reynolds and Josh Rowledge were all close behind.
Aguilera managed to get alongside Alibhai and snuck past the Elite Motorsport driver as Kanto Le ran into problems further down the order.
Le had come to a stop at Church as his car caught fire. Racing was halted with nine minutes on the clock and would not resumed.
Aguilera, who was disqualified from race one, picked up his maiden car racing victory ahead of Alibhai and Reynolds.
There was drama on the opening lap for a number of cars, including Luca Hopkinson and Sonny Smith. Cars were scattered over the grass and a number suffered significant damage. Despite four drivers having to retire due to the incident and more having to limp back to the pits, there was no need for a safety car.
Rowledge, who had started 15th on the grid, managed to avoid the drama and climbed up into the top 10 after the opening lap. He moved up to fourth by the chequered flag and leaves Thruxton with the championship lead, eight points ahead of Reynolds.
Zak Meakin took fifth ahead of Will Macintyre, who also had to climb up through the order from a low grid position.
McNeilly dropped back to seventh by the chequered flag, finishing ahead of Fergus Chalmers and Maurice Henry. Henry had been on for a result higher up the order before a moment on the grass sent him into a spin, but he was able to recover to finish inside the top 10.
Adam Brown picked up the final top 10 position ahead of the recovering Watts and Douglass.
Image credit: Ginetta/Jakob Ebrey Photography
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