Mini Challenge UK

Mini Challenge UK

Category	One-make racing by Mini
Country	United Kingdom
Inaugural season	2002
Classes	JCW Class Open Class Cooper Pro Class Cooper Am Class
Constructors	Mini
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Drivers' champion	Ant Whorton-Eales
Teams' champion	JamSport Racing
Official website	Mini Challenge UK
Current season

The Mini Challenge UK is a one-make race series began in 2002 and since 2017 it has run as a support package to the British GT Championship.

Throughout the championship's history it established itself as one of the main routes into topline Touring Car racing, and drivers went on to do well in the Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom, British Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship and British GT Championship. Past and current drivers such as Jeff Smith, Charlie Butler-Henderson, Harry Vaulkhard, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Brett Smith, Paul O'Neill, Nick Foster, Arthur Forster, Stewart Lines, Martin Depper, Chris Smiley and Ant Whorton-Eales.

The cars

Mini F56 (2015-Present)

Introduced in 2015 the F56 is the first purpose built race car to race in the championship, a 2 litre turbocharged BMW engine and a 6 speed sequential gearbox means that it is also the most powerful car in the championship with 275bhp.

Mini R56 (2010-Present)

Introduced in 2010 as the new JCW it has a 1.6 litre turbocharged BMW engine along with slick tyres and a 6 speed gearbox to produce 220bhp.

Mini R53 (2004-2010, 2016-Present)

Introduced in the third season the R53 has a 1.6 litre supercharged BMW engine producing 195bhp along with slick tyres and a 6 speed gearbox.

Mini R50 (2013-Present)

Introduced in 2013 as a replacement for the Cooper's with slick tyres, a 6 speed gearbox and a 1.6 litre BMW engine producing 135bhp.

Mini Cooper (2002-2012, 2017-Present)

Introduced in the first season the Cooper is the basic entry level car with treaded tyres and a 5 speed road gearbox along with an ordinary engine producing 120bhp.

Champions

Cooper			Cooper S/ Open (2017–Present)		JCW		Open (2016)/ Cooper Am (2017-Present)
Season	Driver	Team	Driver	Team	Driver	Team	Driver	Team
2002	Steve Meli	Mark Fish Motorsport
2003	Mark Speller	Mark Fish Motorsport
2004	Gary Robertshaw	Robertshaw Racing	Martin Wallbank	Mark Fish Motorsport
2005	Barney Craggs	Sussex Road and Race	Arthur Forster	Forster Motorsport
2006	Gareth Nixon	Nixon Motorsport	Freddy Nordström	Advent Motorsport
2007	Jenny Ryan	Mark Fish Motorsport	Oly Mortimer	Tynecastle Racing
2008	Graham Parsons	Advent Motorsport	Martin Depper	Forster Motorsport
2009	Luke Caudle	Mark Fish Motorsport	Oly Mortimer	Team Formula Racing
2010	David Ogden	Mark Fish Motorsport	Lee Allen	Truck Align	Luke Caudle	Excelr8 Motorsport
2011	Ant Whorton-Eales	Excelr8 Motorsport			Chris Knox	Excelr8 Motorsport
2012	Henry Gilbert	Excelr8 Motorsport			Lee Allen	Truck Align
2013	Shane Stoney	Coastal Racing			Chris Smiley	IN:MINI
2014	Shane Stoney	Coastal Racing			Chris Knox	Excelr8 Motorsport
2015	Nathan Harrison	Coastal Racing	Neil Newstead	Oakfield Motorsport	Charlie Butler-Henderson	Oakfield Motorsport
2016	Max Bladon	Excelr8 Motorsport	Scott Jeffs	Privateer	David Grady	Unitec Motorsport	Keith Issatt	Lawrence Davey Racing
2017	Matt Hammond	Excelr8 Motorsport	Ben Dimmack	Sussex Road and Race	Brett Smith	Eurotech Racing	Stuart McLaren	Hybrid Tune Motorsport
2018	Kyle Reid	Privateer	Will Fairclough	AReeve Motorsport	Ant Whorton-Eales	JamSport Racing	Alex Nevill	Privateer
2019	Robert Dalgliesh	Privateer	Dan Butcher-Lloyd	Privateer	James Gornall	Privateer	Lee Pearce	Privateer