Photo: Walter Hayes Trophy TV
There were four drivers who began the Walter Hayes Trophy’s last lap eyeing victory, and had a lot to say after the chequered flag.
KMR Sport’s racing returnee Tom Mills was victorious, and started off in disbelief when sharing his first reactions.
“We’ve won it five times without me. It’s been a long, long drought since 2019 when Jordan [Dempsey] did it,” the 2023 GB4 champion told Formula Scout.
“Been second for the last four years in a row as KMR. It was tough to watch from the sidelines those years, but it’s so nice to be [in] it now.”
A critical late move was diving down Dempsey’s inside at Brooklands, having tricked the leader into covering the outside.
“I was confident once I had it done. I was not confident at any point [before]. There was a few hairy ones. Cars trying to tap me in places I didn’t expect them to, and there was times where we must always [fight]. There’s no points for second, so I just had to keep trying.”
Mills praised Dempsey’s “fair” racecraft, as they left “a millimetre” for each other in battle. Dempsey felt the same, adding Mills “just caught me napping” with his bold overtake. He retired following a last-lap double clash with Jason Smyth, which the pair disagreed over.
Chris Middlehurst was runner-up after a long route to the final, and “battled really hard” while reckoning he was “quite down on power”.
“I missed a gear unfortunately early on, and think I bent a valve,” he explained. “If I could get right in the slipstream I could just keep with the people in front.”
“Considering where we were at the start of the weekend, to come second I’m very happy with. It would’ve been great to have won, but I’m chuffed for Tom. He drove brilliantly all weekend, and not put a foot wrong. I had a good view on the start-finish line when he was like in the wall [alongside Dempsey]. I don’t know how he didn’t [hit]. Just millimetres.”
Anthony Amato finished third, and shared the widely held sentiment that it was “a hell of a race”.
“It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to come out on top,” said Amato. “I think we had the car [to win]. Tom ended up doing a really wide line into turn one [on the penultimate lap], and came out on top because of that. Otherwise we would have had it.”
Fourth-placed Tom Nippers was in disbelief after “fighting for the win, which seemed well out of the cards” after a disastrous Formula Ford Festival last weekend.
“We made two major changes today and it was mint,” he beamed. “The final was the best the car’s ever felt around here. Always struggled with understeer [at Silverstone] but we didn’t today.”
He reckoned choosing “the wrong side each time” in passing attempts proved costly, and felt he “properly had one chance [to lead]; didn’t quite make it happen”.
Several drivers voiced concerns over the recovery late on of two cars at Becketts, where marshals stood at the track’s edge but only a single yellow flag was used.