Jo Polley displayed her skills during a bumper weekend of racing at Brands Hatch where she competed in five separate races in two different cars. While was unfortunate not to score a top-10 result in the trio of Mini Miglia races, Polley displayed her versatility by competing in the midfield of the Sanwa Trophy for historic Minis.
Racing in both the Dunlop Mini Challenge and the Sanwa Trophy, Jo Polley enjoyed a productive weekend of racing at Brands Hatch. In her full-season campaign in the Miglia Class of the Dunlop Mini Challenge, Polley achieved a best result of 12th in the opening race of the weekend while also securing one other top-15 result.
In the Sanwa Trophy for Pre-1966 Historic Mini Cooper machines, Jo qualified inside the top-20 of an extremely competitive field of drivers, securing one top-20 finish across the two races.
Polley has established herself as a frontrunning driver in both classic and modern Mini racing over the past decade. After a spell racing in the Mini Challenge JCW class, Jo switched to the Mini 7 Racing Club and has competed in both the Se7en class and more recently in the Dunlop Mini Challenge Miglia division. Racing alongside partner Jeff Smith for the 2024 season, Polley has adapted superbly the highly competitive championship where close-quarters racing is guaranteed.
Now entering the second half of the season, Polley sits tenth in the championship with over 30 drivers having competed in at least one round prior to Brands Hatch. Opening the season with an excellent sixth place result from 18th on the grid, Jo displayed her speed and racecraft at Donington Park. Since then, Polley has recorded three further top-10 finishes while also achieving the Grid Improver award at Snetterton where she gained 16 positions from her starting spot in race two.
Brands Hatch gave Polley a chance to earn her largest haul of championship points to date with three races taking place on the Indy circuit. Additionally, Jo was set to compete in Sanwa Trophy for Pre-1966 Historic Minis, a different category and style of racing to that in the Dunlop Mini Challenge Miglia division, but not one which Polley was unfamiliar with.
Dunlop Mini Challenge – Miglia
Polley was first on track Saturday morning for an open practice session ahead of qualifying for the Dunlop Mini Challenge. After finishing practice second fastest in a field of competitors from all seven events, Jo was looking for a strong qualifying performance.
It was a heavily disrupted session with two red flags, including a session-ending stoppage with around five minutes remaining. Setting the 16th fastest time in the Miglia class, Polley was just three tenths of a second away from the top-10 and was looking ahead to making progress in the trio of races to follow.
Lining up from 16th on the grid for the opening race, Jo was aiming for a fast start in pursuit of a top-10 finish. Polley gained a single position on the first lap, before the safety car was deployed for an incident deep in the field. The race restarted on lap four with Polley in 15th position and looking to make further progress. Overtaking both Joe Ferguson and Elliot Stafford, Jo was up to 13th and began applying pressure to Shaun King.
On lap six, Polley was able to move ahead of King and immediately set a personal best time despite a large gap to bridge ahead. This was significant due to the powerful slipstream effect of the Miglia class Minis and initially prevented Polley from pulling out a gap.
However, Jo got into her rhythm and slowly built a margin over the drivers behind and on lap 11, Martin Wager fell outside the top-10 and became Jo’s next target. Despite a series of consistent laps, Polley was unable to bridge the gap to her rival and she withstood a late challenge from King and Nick Paddy to take the checkered flag in 12th position.
Polley lined up 17th on the grid for race two on Sunday morning with the starting positions based on the fastest lap times set during the first race of the weekend. Jo made a good initial start and moved into 16th position, however a red flag was then displayed for two separate incidents with multiple cars requiring recovery. The grid for the restart was formed from the original grid positions and Polley was able to maintain her position on the start to end lap one in 17th position.
Jo was now looking to make progress and move ahead of Jody Lees on lap three, before a recovering Endaf Owens quickly moved ahead of the pair. Polley knew that following Owens through the field would be a good strategy and she was successfully able to gain three positions in the next three laps. Setting a personal best time on lap seven, she also overtook Alex Osborne for 14th, before passing Shaun King for 13th position.
On lap 10, Polley ran her fastest lap of the entire weekend with her time of a 55.051 allowing her to close the gap to the drivers ahead. Holding off King in the closing stages, Jo took the checkered flag in 13th position to end a good race of progress at Brands Hatch.
For the final race of the weekend, grid positions were set by the finishing positions from race two with Polley lining up from 13th. After being shuffled down to 16th at the conclusion of the first lap, Jo then battled for position with Steve Youle with the duo running side-by-side as lap three began. The pair then made contact at Druids which saw Youle retire from the race, while Polley fell to 22nd overall, 20th among the Miglia class drivers.
During the next portion of the race Polley fought hard to close the gap to the pack of drivers ahead while nursing some damage from the earlier incident. By lap 12, she was able to move forward as she overtook the Libre class machine of Peter Hills while setting her personal best lap of the race.
The following lap saw Jo pass class rival Mark Cowan as she bridged the deficit to the next group of cars. On lap 18, Polley made a move on Shaun King before overtaking both Ryan Taylor and Mark Sims to move herself into 16th place within the Miglia class.
A final lap pass on the Libre machine of Josh Evans completed a good comeback in the final race of the weekend, before a four-place penalty was awarded to Polley leading to a final result of 19th in the Miglia class.
Sanwa Trophy – Pre 1966 Minis
The Sanwa Trophy gave Polley a chance to race a second Mini during the weekend, with qualifying for the Pre 1966 Minis taking place on Saturday morning. This was the only action in the Sanwa Trophy on day one of the MSVR Mini Festival and Jo was looking to make the smooth transition from her Mini Miglia. A stacked field of 40 Mini Cooper drivers took to the Brands Hatch Indy circuit with Polley setting the 22nd fastest time overall, just one second away from a third row starting spot.
"My best lap was compromised by traffic which cost me 3 tenths resulting in my worst ever qualifying on an all mini grid", a disappointed Polley explained.
Polley lined up 18th on the grid for the opening race due to some two-driver lineups setting a pair of fast times in qualifying. It was a tough first lap for Jo who was caught up in an incident at Graham Hill bend which saw her drop to 31st position.
Nonetheless, she was determined to fight back through the field and by the end of lap five, Polley was back into 28th position. Following separate issues for Adam Morgan and Tom Bell, Jo was into 26th position and catching a number of slower competitors.
On lap eight, Polley overtook Benjamin Chiron and after Nick Paddy entered the pits in his Austin Mini Van, she was closing in on a top-20 position. After passing both Claude Cassina and Bruce Galliford, Jo set a personal best time on lap 13 which was close to matching her fastest effort from qualifying.
An issue for Dan Lewis then promoted Polley into 21st position before she also moved ahead of Neil McArthur’s Wolseley Hornet. Taking the checkered flag in 19th position, it was an excellent recovery from Jo who gained 12 positions after the opening lap.
"I got a really good start making up a load of places at Paddock and Druids only to be spun off at Graham Hill and collected on lap 1", she summed up. "All I could do was carry on with a bent car and drag it round to finish."
For the final race of the event, Polley lined up 19th on the grid for the final Sanwa Trophy contest. It was a solid start for Jo who held a position inside the top-20, falling to 20th position after the first lap was completed.
Overtaking both Charlie Cooper and Neil McArthur on lap two, Polley was showing good speed as she aimed to end the weekend on a high. Despite Aimee Watts moving ahead on lap three, Jo settled in and began to set a series of extremely consistent lap times among the midfield runners.
Polley was holding a nice position among the top-20 as the halfway point was passed, before a technical issue started to hamper her progress. After running as high as 18th on lap 12, Jo then lost out to Cooper and Alfie Woodrow before falling to 22nd position on lap 15. As the engine issue persisted, Polley was forced into retirement on lap 16 to put pay to potential top-15 result in the highly competitive Sanwa Trophy.
"Early on after again making up some places I did the save of my life through the gravel at Paddock keeping it pinned and coming out the other end", Jo wrote. "But unbeknown to me at first some of the gravel had punctured the rad and as I tried to play catch up again George [her car] was slowly overheating and I had to retire with a cooked engine."
Polley displayed all her skills during a bumper weekend of racing at Brands Hatch where she competed in five separate races in two different cars. Jo was unfortunate not to score a top-10 result in the trio of Mini Miglia races but displayed her versatility by competing in the midfield of the Sanwa Trophy for historic Minis.
Polley’s next event in the Dunlop Mini Challenge Miglia class will take place at Castle Combe on the weekend of 21st/22nd September.
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