LDR Performance Tuning’s Louie Capozzoli would showcase that he is a force to be reckoned with in the 2021 QUAIFE MINI Challenge UK Trophy, as the 1.2-mile Kent circuit played host to a bumper grid over the course of the two-day race meeting.

In qualifying, the 18-year-old piloted his #199 MINI Cooper to provisional pole for Round 6 with a 57.113-second lap time, but would be denied by EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Matt Hammond, who went fastest by a mere 0.020.

He would end up being the fastest of the rookie contingent in the session, with the top five in class covered by just under half a second, rounded off by the #3 of privateer Ricky Page.

He would then go on to challenge Howard for the overall race lead by closing in rather quickly, but an incident between Josh Porter (#94 – EXCLER8), Jonathan Sargeant (#98 – EXCELR8) and Louie’s teammate at LDR, Brendan Fitzgerald (#60), brought out the red flag with two minutes to go.

The Brackley-based racer would secure his highest finish of the season so far in second, finishing behind race winner Howard by only 0.373 seconds, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap eight (57,619 seconds).

But Round 7 saw a major roll for championship leader Hammond off Surtees, which saw the likes of Nathan Edwards, Nelson King and Alex Jay be dispersed, which saw firstly a red flag and a complete race restart with a depleted grid.

Starting from P6, it was an eventful race for the LDR driver, who would thread his way through the middle of both Page and Charlie Mann down Cooper Straight to take fourth after just a handful of laps – one of the standout moves of the race weekend!

But the young man would then take the lead onto the end of lap eight, after contact between Morgan Wroot and Alfie Glenie saw the #199 move ahead. This was before Paddock Hill Bend tested the Silverstone UTC student, who would end up dropping to tenth after the car slid wide and put two wheels into the gravel.

With full motivation to get back on track, Capozzoli would then charge forward again with a slightly dustier-looking MINI, once again picking up the fastest overall lap of the race (57.659 seconds) and getting up to seventh at the flag to finishing 0.305 behind ASRacing’s Alex Solley.

“I’m really happy with how the weekend went. I feel that after Thruxton it was as much for them, as it was for me. I don’t feel that I deserved it, but us as a team, did, after all the hard work that was being put in by everyone including my mum and my dad,” admitted Louie after a season-defining race weekend that now puts him seventh in the standings on 172 points. 

“Just the sheer amount of effort that was put in to get back on the grid meant that justice was given with the performances over the course of the race meeting.”

With Alan Hyde on the circuit commentary saying that the #199 was “looking rather pacey and racey” during Round 7, the moment that showcased his intent to compete with the best, was the move that saw him take fourth – “Coming out of Graham Hill, I could see that Joe [Wiggin] and the other drivers were starting to pull a slight gap and I knew that now was the time to really get the move done, and when the opportunity arose to go for it, as a racer, there was no other real option.  

“Thankfully, the outcome was gaining two positions, which was a really good move” 

Even having plenty of race experience before joining the MINI Challenge UK Trophy, he also explained that the emotion of leading a race for the first time at a track he had never raced at before “got to me a little bit,” which then prompted the mistake through Paddock Hill Bend.

“I made just a slight error under braking, which caused me to go wide. I was extremely lucky to be able to keep the car going and felt that I had to make up for that mistake by gaining those three positions back. A slightly bitter end to a really positive day.” 

Even with the disappointment of not being able to win Round 7 playing on his mind, Capozzoli is rather upbeat going to Oulton Park on July 24th for Rounds 8 & 9:

“The momentum is still there heading to Oulton Park. For us, it was always going to be a long shot trying to get back into contention, but after how the weekend at Brands Hatch turned out, now being seventh in the championship and second in the rookie class, it still shows that we have a chance at winning come the end of the year.”

 Image © JEP – Jakob Ebrey Photography