Harry Hickton Tallies First Podium Of The Season At Brands Hatch

Harry Hickton made a welcome return to the Power Maxed MINI CHALLENGE podium at Brands Hatch this past weekend (9-10 May) as he ignited his 2026 season with a sublime second place finish in race one.

Keen to bounce back from a frustrating season-opener at Donington Park, the Mannpower Motorsport driver delivered both pace and potential in front of a bumper crowd at the popular Kent venue.

Lighting up the timesheets during practice on Friday, the 19-year-old enjoyed one of his strongest qualifying sessions to-date in the series, all of which resulted in him netting pole position on second fastest lap times for race one.

Making a strong start as the lights went out, the Hampshire racer initially held his own before soon coming under pressure from Max Edmundson, with the BTCC Development Driver finding a way past him at Clearways.

Undeterred by dropping to second, Hickton quickly got back on the attack but despite remaining a constant presence in Edmundson’s mirrors for the remainder of the bout, he was unable to find a way past and ultimately settled for second as he contended with power steering issues.

Hickton managed to keep out of trouble in what was a feisty race two on Sunday, with his reward being a tenth place finish before he closed out his weekend with a fine drive to finish fifth in what were tricky damp conditions.

Leaving Brands Hatch, Hickton has now moved up to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and hot on the heels of the top three.

Harry Hickton: “Any weekend that you can leave with silverware is good and this has been no different. After what was a challenging Donington Park, it was important to bounce back and I think we managed to do that.

“We really found the sweet spot with the car on Friday and managed to translate that into qualifying, securing the two front row starts. To be on pole, back at Brands Hatch of all places, was special and we managed to hold our own for a little bit.

“Sadly, a power steering issue continued to worsen as the race wore on and it was a case of just managing what we had instead of trying to attack Max. To add two more solid points finishes was good and we can now take this momentum into the next event at Snetterton.”

The Power Maxed MINI CHALLENGE season continues in less than two weeks’ time at Snetterton on the 23-24 May.