Ashley Aims high for 2025 in the third Cooper Campaign

Ashley Gregory will look to build on a strong end of the 2024 season after confirming her return to the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy grid for a third year. The Lancashire-based racer had gone into her graduate campaign looking to challenge for championship honours with her family-run team - having bagged a maiden podium finish at Croft during her rookie season. It would prove to be a tricky campaign for the former short oval and Junior Saloon Car Championship racer however, with an unfortunate run of results during the mid-point of the year and illness that resulted in her being forced to miss a race at Silverstone hampering her challenge. Gregory’ on-track potential was still clear to see however, most notably during the Brands Hatch season finale when the move into a new build car saw her enjoy her strongest weekend of the year with a brace of top ten finishes.

Gregory will continue at the wheel of the new car going into 2025, with her focus being to build on the Brands Hatch results and fight towards the sharp end of the grid with one of the smallest teams on the grid. As was the case in 2024, Gregory and her team will run from the Manpower Motorsport awning, with BTCC race winner Dan Rowbottom continuing to work with the 20-year-old as driver coach. “’ delighted to be returning to the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy for a third season,” she said. “ A challenging debut year, with the obvious highlight of the podium at Croft, I went into last season feeling confident that we could move up the grid but things just didn’t go our way for various reasons. "We decided to build the new car, the results immediately improved and I was able to show what I'm capable of at Brands Hatch, where we almost got back onto the podium. “That weekend was a huge boost in confidence and I’m now going into 2025 in a much stronger position, both physically and mentally - and I feel more prepared for this season than I ever have before. My focus is firmly on challenging towards the front on a regular basis. I want nothing more than to win in this championship.

“ Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of my family and my sponsors. I'm super grateful to have retained most of my current sponsors and welcomed several new ones on board, as without them, I wouldn't be able to go out and race.”