Wojciech Swirydowicz performed a near clean sweep of the Sprint Challenge at Brands Hatch. It was a clinical drive, fending off Slugnificent and Lauzon across all three heats. Only missing out on the bonus point for fewest incidents, Swirydowicz scored 69 out of 70 points available. Currently sitting 18 points away from the cutoff for the finale, and 62 points away overall from championship leader McKinzie, Swirydowicz would have to continue his perfection through the last four rounds of the season to pull ahead of McKinzie in the championship.

With no obvious overtaking zones, the racing was frenetic.

What of that championship? Slugnificent snuck back into the cutoff range this week, but there are several drivers that have a chance to claw back the deficit to McKinzie. Below is a table showing the average amount of points each driver needs to gain over McKinzie per round to pass him in the championship. Keep in mind that this week, McKinzie’s middling performance saw Slugnificent gain 12 points on him, Swirydowicz gain 21, Rzepka gain 2, and Shink gain 2. Drivers must be within 44 points to be mathematically in the mix for the final round of the season.

NameGapAvg Gain Needed
Slugnificent-36+9.00
Francois Shink-47+11.75
James D Carr-58+14.50
Wojciech Swirydowicz-62+15.50
Jérôme Bajulaz-68+17.00
Matthew Rzepka-74+18.50
The Slug is the closest of the bunch, but it’s still not going to be easy.

Brands Hatch was also another great day for Rzepka and Carr, both securing top fives and continuing to show they deserve to race with the best of the field for podiums and wins. Jon Lauzon had fantastic pace the first two heats, but a crash in the feature race ended his chances at his first podium of the season. Bajulaz and Shink struggled just as much for pace as McKinzie, fighting over 6th place and finishing a full 21 seconds off of the leader in the feature race.

The fog provided an extra layer of challenge for both the drivers and the broadcast.

Justin T Rhodes drove a few laps as the leader after starting on pole for the feature race, before sliding back to a very respectable 8th just behind Shink and Bajulaz. Ronald Methot punched in his second top 10 in a row, keeping him right next to Rhodes in the points for that 10th position.

Finishing passes sometimes meant getting your elbows out.

Next week, the Alpha Touring Challenge goes to Suzuka for the first time since Season 2, when the league raced on the East layout. This time, it’ll be the full Grand Prix layout for an Alpha Challenge.