Ashley scores Valuable Championship Points at a Tough Round of the MINI Challenge Trophy

Coming off the back of a successful opening round that saw her stand on the podium at Snetterton, Ashley and her team were looking to build on their healthy points tally with a strong second set of races. Practice wasn’t the smoothest as the new tarmac on the circuit meant it was difficult for not only Ashley but her competitors to find an optimum setup. By the end of practice though, Ashley and her team had taken a step forward and by finishing the final practice session in sixth position, the team felt positive going into qualifying and the races.

Saturday’s qualifying session started off positively with Ashley setting the 4th fastest time for most of the session, until drama hit. With less than 5 minutes to go, Ashley went back out to try and improve her lap time but going into the famous Paddock Hill Bend (turn 1) one of the rear adjustable suspension arms snapped in half allowing the wheel and hub to fold under the car causing the rear subframe to break. Ashley was flung into a 360-degree spin in the air and was out for the rest of the session, with massive damage to the rear of her MINI Cooper.

With only a few hours until the first race, the repair job Ashley’s mechanics faced was massive, but the sole privateer team in the paddock got stuck in and with the support of Mannpower Motorsport, Westbourne Motorsport, NAPA Racing UK and Chandler Motorsport helping with parts, Ashley’s #22 MINI Cooper was fixed and ready for the first race.

Whilst the mechanics did a brilliant job for Ashley, the repair work meant that Rossendale’s dynamo would have to start from the pit lane, as she was unable to make it to the assembly area and join the starting grid. Ashley made up several positions in the first race round Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit to take 18th place, an impressive feat considering the car wasn’t setup correctly for the race, due to the repairs.

Ashley would start the first of two races on Sunday from 18th position and despite still having to drive around certain setup issues with the car, she successfully navigated two safety car interventions and made excellent progress to cross the line in 7th position.

The third and final race of the weekend unfortunately didn't go so well. Ashley lined up 7th on the grid but was still struggling with the setup of her MINI Cooper and dropped back a few positions to finish in 11th place. Ashley didn’t make it easy for her competitors, but her performance was limited, a hangover from the incident in qualifying.

Even with a car that was compromised in performance Ashley still scored points in all three races and still sits comfortably in the top 10 of the drivers’ standings.

“I am honestly quite glad to see the back of this weekend. It should have been another amazing round and I think we could have carried on the performance and results from Snetterton but that rear arm failure in qualifying completely scuppered our weekend. I do have to say though that I am very grateful for all the mechanics from the other teams who came and helped my crew with fixing the car. That was a great example of sportsmanship. Onwards and upwards to Thruxton we go.”