Keen’s Retirement Helps Lundqvist Extend Whelen Lead At Brands Hatch

Linus Lundqvist took a step closer to competing in the 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona after extending his Sunoco Whelen Challenge lead at Brands Hatch last weekend.

British F3 and British GT’s joint event at Brands Hatch represented a penultimate opportunity for Phil Keen to cut Linus Lundqvist’s advantage. But, instead, it was the Carlin driver who left Kent with one hand firmly on the senior competition’s trophy after extending his lead to 17.89 points.

It might have been very different for Keen whose retirement prevented the British GT3 Pro from taking advantage of Lundqvist’s winless weekend. Indeed, the Swede also failed to set a fastest lap or claim pole position for either of the two races that count towards the Sunoco Whelen Challenge, which actually reduced his overall score by almost four points.

Nevertheless, his new 98.33 season average now looks beyond Keen’s reach, while Stuart Moseley will be relying on bigger Radical European Masters grids at the championship’s final two rounds if he’s to potentially collect the maximum number of points still available. He’s now 22.44 marks behind Lundqvist in the overall standings.

Further back, Nicolai Kjaergaard is now just 1.31 points behind Moseley in fourth after claiming a British F3 win, third place and two fastest laps at Brands Hatch, while a who’s-who of world GT stars – Jonny Adam, Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Yelmer Buurman – fill positions five to eight following their latest British GT exploits. Just four points separate the quartet.

British GT4 championship leader Jack Mitchell is best of the championship’s ‘juniors’ in ninth, and British F3 driver Kush Maini completes the top-10.