KMR Sport’s Tom Mills triumphs in thrilling Walter Hayes Trophy final

Photo: Ida Wood

KMR Sport’s Tom Mills won the 2026 Walter Hayes Trophy in a typically thrilling final which was packed with drama.

Mills started on pole and led the field through the first corner. Fellow front-row man Jason Smyth locked up into Becketts, costing him second to Jordan Dempsey who then ran alongside Mills down the Wellington Straight. Dempsey ended the lap right on the leader’s gearbox, allowing Smyth to actually draw alongside him.

Smyth was marginally ahead as they began lap two, both within 0.11 seconds of Mills, and Dempsey cemented himself in second entering Maggotts.

Anthony Amato challenged Smyth next, and they ran side-by-side from Brooklands through to Copse on the next lap when he got past on the outside. Dempsey came under attack from Amato later in lap three, with Mills now 0.5s clear.

Mills was sucked back in by the pack, and there was a 10-car lead train on lap five when the safety car was summoned due to Ricky Simpson and Stephen O’Connor crashing at Copse.

The train slowed exiting Becketts, and Josh Fisher in sixth rode over the rear-right of Rory Smith’s car in a huge crash. Both drivers thankfully were unscathed, and it lifted Chris Middlehurst and Tom Nippers to fifth and sixth. Joey Foster was in 10th and the sudden slowing he had to do resulted in a spin down to 15th.

Racing resumed on lap nine, with the race extended by four tours to 19 laps. Amato passed Dempsey on the restart, then really pressured Mills into Brooklands next time by. Despite a major correction through Luffield, he remained on Mills’ gearbox and forced him into defence through lap 11.

Into Brooklands he went for the outside, so Mills took a wider line exiting the corner (including going off) as Dempsey also filled his mirrors.

Mills and Amato were wheel-to-wheel down the Wellington Straight next time by, and when the same defensive move was attempted Amato made a switchback to have the outside for Luffield.

Amato did another switchback on lap 13, attacking at Maggotts then having better exit speed from Becketts. He overtook Mills early in the straight, then the drama ramped up approaching Brooklands.

Smyth passed Dempsey on the inside, Mills went deep and when Amato turned in on the inside he was hit by Smyth who was locking up. Middlehurst made incredibly rapid adjustments to avoid Smyth’s spinning car, Nippers took fourth and Smyth only dropped to seventh behind Hugh Esterson as the rest of the field were far behind.

Mills attacked when they next reached Maggotts, and Amato fended him off through Becketts but only after Mills’ front-right tyre and then his nose hit his rear-left tyre and briefly lifted the back of his car.

Dempsey and Nippers shot past, with Mills and Middlehurst then passing Amato down the straight. Mills dived past Nippers at Brooklands, and Amato reclaimed fourth from Middlehurst.

Fastest in the lead group was Mills, and when Dempsey defended the inside as they began lap 16 he still went for what was a shrinking gap between the leader and the pit wall. He avoided contact with both, and was alongside Dempsey until they had to slow for yellow flags at Becketts.

These were out due to Maris Schulte and Haarni Sadiq crashing there while fighting over eighth, and it brought Smyth back into the victory fight.

Dempsey covered the outside on the run to Brooklands, since Mills had gone that way. But Mills then swept across and expertly took the lead on the inside as they turned in. Middlehurst overtook Amato at Luffield, and Smyth demoted Esterson exiting Woodcote.

An equally assured pass on the outside was pulled off by Dempsey through Brooklands on lap 17, but he then slid through Luffield and Woodcote and met the gravel run-off. Mills did a switchback to reclaim first, and Dempsey was soon at the back of the septet.

The penultimate lap began with Mills leading Nippers by 0.061s, but it was Amato who tried taking first place into Copse. Mills ran way off-track exiting it, but rejoined ahead of Middlehurst, Amato and Nippers.

Amato lost third through Becketts, and then fourth as Dempsey made three passes down the Wellington Straight. He cleared Nippers there on the final lap, then Smyth went down the inside of both at Brooklands but by pushing Dempsey wide entering the corner.

The same occurred exiting it, and this damaged Dempsey’s car so he stopped at Luffield. Amato also made a dive into Brooklands past Nippers, which put him on the podium as Mills met the chequered flag 0.333s ahead of Middlehurst.

Esterson and Smyth finished fifth and sixth, and Foster made his way to the front of the next pack of cars to recover to seventh.

Benn Tilley was the top driver in a pre-1993 car in eighth place, and the debuting George Quartermaine climbed 17 spots to ninth.

Race results (19 laps)