Max Coates took a best finish of 4th place in the MINI CHALLENGE UK Official eSeries at Silverstone to close the gap in the real-world driver class of the championship
Starting in 14th for the opening race Coates had work to do, but duly made his way through the pack in the Elite Motorsport MINI CHALLENGE car, finishing race one 7th. A virtual problem for race two, no starting lights, meant Coates dropped from 3rd on the grid to the bottom end of the top ten in race two. The racing and competition was so tight he struggled to make up places.
Qualifying 2 was much better for the Primex Plastics and PLASgran Recycling backed driver, this time in 7th place. Whilst battling for 5th position the JiC Transport backed car collided with a rival and into the wall on the outside of turn one. Undeterred Coates carried on picking up positions rising from 21st to 13th at the drop of the flag.
With work to do again he set about catching the leaders and found his way through to 3rd place by mid-race. Coates, backed by NGK Spark Plugs then battled with series leaders Dave Marshall and Jack McIntyre to the flag, holding onto fourth place and narrowly missing out on a podium finish.
The next round of the championship comes from the virtual version of the Snetterton 300 circuit. The races can be watched via the MINI CHALLENGE UK social media channels and the links below.
MINI CHALLENGE UK Live Stream Links for Round 5 – Snetterton 300:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MINIChallengeUK/posts/4162609693779256
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgbUgn83yQ0
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/vrracingclub