US sends Hunsucker to inaugural transatlantic Mini Challenge

On Sunday, October 22, Donington Park will see Waylen Hunsucker, America’s fastest MINI driver go head-to-head with the UK’s elite in the final rounds of the 2006 UK MINI Challenge, the first of two transatlantic MINI face-offs.

Hunsucker, 25, from Indianapolis, secured the inaugural North American MINI Cooper Championship (NAMCC) at Carolina Motorsports Park on September 23-24, and thereby won himself a trip over to the UK to take on the best in Britain in Rounds 15 & 16 of the 2006 MINI Challenge.

The return fixture will see the UK Overall Champion head out to Las Vegas in March for Rounds 1 & 2 of the 2007 NAMCC. The protagonists for the prize are Gareth Nixon, 37, from Omagh, who secured the 2006 UK Club Class title at Croft Circuit on September 10, and Esher youngster, Freddie Nordstrom, 17, who is leading the S Class title battle.

Approaching the climax of its fifth season in the UK, the MINI Challenge, formerly known as the John Cooper Challenge, has proven a great success, subsequently spawning sister series across the globe including Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Bahrain and the USA. Next year will see the introduction of a seventh MINI Challenge series in New Zealand.

The proliferation of MINI Challenges is testament to the contagious popularity of the MINI and its uniquely engaging driving qualities.

Hunsucker will drive a 210bhp race-prepared MINI Cooper S at Donington, against 18 Brits in similar machinery, as part of a record-breaking UK MINI Challenge grid of 38, around the undulating 2-mile national circuit.

With Nixon having already tied up the Club Class title, his work is not over yet as the overall 2006 MINI Challenge title is still to be decided. Freddie Nordstrom can still mathematically take the title but he will have his hands full at Donington trying to secure the Cooper S crown by seeing off the challenge of defending champion, Arthur Forster, 38, from Newcastle.