Mills pips Amato to Walter Hayes Trophy semi-final two victory

Photo: Ida Wood

KMR Sport’s Tom Mills held off Ammonite Motorsport’s Anthony Amato by 0.036 seconds to win the second Walter Hayes Trophy semi-final.

Amato and Mills shared the front row, and fifth on the grid was Tom Nippers after the penalty that dropped him to 17th in heat three was overturned.

It was Amato who led into Copse for the first time, with B-M Racing’s Rory Smith in third ahead of Team Dolan’s Megan Gilkes. Luke Cooper almost went into Nippers’ gearbox at Becketts as he slid through the corner.

A puddle before Maggotts was hit by Amato on lap two and set up Mills to get past at Becketts. He got back alongside down the Wellington Straight, but Mills was later on the brakes into Brooklands.

Amato’s overtaking attempt at Copse on lap three sent himself off, then going side-by-side with Mills at Maggotts allowed Smith to slip down his inside at the next corner and boxed in Amato down the following straight. It looked like Mills was being bump drafted at that point.

Lap four was similar for all three, and on lap five Mills weaved down the Wellington Straight as he tried to break the tow. Smith went to his outside and Amato to his inside at Brooklands, and Smith took second after Amato touched the wet kerbs at Woodcote.

Nippers cleared Amato inside Copse next time by, as a six-car pack formed. Amato braked late at Becketts to reclaim third on lap seven of 12, while a spin cast Gilkes out of the battle and Cooper was gapped.

The top two were more defensive later on, and Amato passed Smith at Copse on the penultimate lap. He was wheel-to-wheel with Mills as the last lap began, and Mills had to respond to his next attack at Maggotts.

Amato nosed ahead on the Wellington Straight, but Mills braked late to lead into Brooklands. They met the chequered flag together, with Mills narrowly ahead. Nippers was just 0.666s behind in fourth.

KMR’s KC Ensor-Smith retired with a mechanical issue on lap six after running in sixth, while team-mate Mikel Bezuidenhout charged from 27th to ninth.

All of the frontrunners were on used tyres, saving their unused second sets for the final.

“It was tough. The P2 grid position was wet, so it was going to be hard get off the line. Dropped to second, chased Anthony down and managed to make a nice move into Becketts,” Mills told Formula Scout.

“Caught him by surprise a little bit, then just had to defend from there. Tried to keep the two of them fighting as much as I could, so they shared the two as much as possible.”

Amato said of his multiple trips through the Maggotts puddle that “I was really confident with the car so I was able to hang on”, while Smith looked forward to the final.

“We’re up near the front, anything can happen,” Smith said. “We can fight for the win, I’m sure we can do it.”

Race results (12 laps)