Connor Mills (Upminster) is the new leader of the Legends Cars Championship after delivering an impressively strong and consistent series of results during round seven of the season at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday, 28th June, as part of the Super Touring Power 3 festival.

Fifth place in Heat One, his third victory of the season in Heat Two and then fourth in the Final enabled Mills – the inaugural Elite Cup Champion in 2023 – to open an advantage of 105 points at the top of the points table as the series heads into a five week summer break.

Reigning and two-time Legends Cars Champion Will Gibson (Farnborough) raced to a tremendous winning double in Heat One and the round seven Final, making history on two counts. Heat One marked the first ever Legends Cars race on the full GP Circuit configuration at Brands Hatch, while his victory in the Final was Gibson’s landmark 50th career success.

Oli Schlup (Cuckfield) departed the Kent venue second in the championship having secured runner-up finishes to Gibson in races one and three. Championship leader going into the event, Tyler Read (Weedon), experienced some major misfortune with a non-finish after contact in Heat One and an engine seizure in the Final costing huge points. His highlight was second to Mills in Heat Two.

The other outright podium finishers were Chris Needham (Altrincham), who enjoyed a solid day of action with third place in Heat One and the Final, and top Masters class runner Stephen Treherne (Islington) who took an overall third in Heat Two and won the class in all three contests. Owen Lawlor (Dublin) also did the hat-trick in the Rookie class.

Summer scorcher for Legends on Brands GP debut
Gibson had been fastest in qualifying practice and for Heat One he drew second on the grid, wasting no time in passing pole-starter Matt Knight (Shoreham-by-Sea) around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend on the run to Druids. Treherne moved past Knight for second out of the hairpin, and he almost immediately latched on to the leader’s tail.

Emerging from the Grand Prix loop for the first time there was nothing to separate the top two, but there wasn’t a great deal of breathing space either to Read, Schlup and Needham. Read stormed into the lead on lap three and at mid-distance less than 0.8 seconds separated the top quintet, with positions chopping and changing behind the leader.

Knight’s race ended in the Sheene Curve gravel and then, with just two laps to go, Needham – with fastest lap – hit the front. He led into the eighth lap from Read, Schlup and Gibson but Read’s bid also ended on the GP loop after contact. Gibson emerged in first place and duly won by 0.2 seconds from Schlup, Needham and Treherne, with Mills an excellent fifth from the tenth row.

David Bonser (Tamworth) drew pole for Heat Two but second placed starter Mills swept by almost immediately as the returning Nathan Anthony (Horley) leapt to second from third. Mills motored into the distance and, as the pack jostled, he opened a lead of 1.7 seconds on the first tour alone before increasing that advantage to two seconds into lap three, before the Safety Car was called.

Race one winner Gibson and Ross Marshall (Stirling) had to be retrieved from the gravel at Stirlings after a lap two clash, and the race remained under caution until the end of lap five. Mills’ lead, of course, was completely eroded and he had to contend with heavy pressure, first from Needham and then from Read. The latter made his move at Druids on lap seven, with a grandstand finish building.

Hardly anything separated the top four with two laps to go and Read maintained the lead, but Mills saw his chance into Hawthorn on the final tour to retake first. He held on to the line to win by a tenth from Read, who began the race on row seven, with Treherne just 0.077 seconds back in third – he started 18th – and Needham only a further 0.078 seconds shy.

Round seven’s Final required an early Safety Car intervention, as a result of the car of Peter Barrable (Dublin) becoming stranded across the track between Druids and Graham Hill Bend in the opening lap skirmishes. At the re-start on lap four, Marshall held the lead from Knight and Nick Bridgeman (Baldock) while Schlup and Read were fifth and sixth, Gibson eighth, Needham 10th and Mills 15th.

Knight swiftly moved into the lead at Druids, before Schlup was the first of the championship front-runners to make it to the front on lap five. Gibson was right on Schlup’s tail by the end of the lap, and the reigning champion grabbed the lead at Clearways ahead of the start of the seventh tour with Read following him through into second.

Then, on the run to Hawthorn, Read’s car let-go and his hopes ended on the spot. Gibson was able to carry a 1.7 second advantage into the final lap from Schlup and that’s how it ended, with Needham completing the podium to deliver a carbon copy of Heat One’s rostrum. Mills, meanwhile, only just missed the podium by 0.037 seconds with another fantastic drive through the order.

Will Gibson – Rd7 Heat One and Final Winner:
“Winning race one was a bit special, Brands GP was the first and only track Tim [Gibson’s late brother] won on so to get that and dedicate it to him…I’m over the moon. If we didn’t have the DNF in race two we would be leading the championship, but two wins from the day is great for us and the Final was career win number 50 for me. To do that at Brands means a lot to us.”

Connor Mills – Rd7 Heat Two Winner:
“It was hot out there, having a black race suit and black car doesn’t help! It’s been a good day, nice to get a win, and it’s like I’ve said before – we’ve just got to keep chipping away. We were always confident we could do well this weekend, you have to minimise your down days and make the most of the good days which we’re doing. You’ve got to be consistent, in the mix, as it’s so tight.”

There is now a five week break in the calendar for the Legends Cars ahead of the finale to the 2025 Elite Cup – also rounds eight and nine of the outright Championship – at Croft in North Yorkshire on 2nd/3rd August. The meeting marks a return for the pocket rockets to the support package of the British Touring Car Championship, meaning live ITV4 coverage of the day two action.

Provisional 2025 Legends Cars Championship Points (after Rd7)
1st Connor Mills, 3170pts; 2nd Oli Schlup, 3065pts; 3rd Tyler Read, 3040pts; 4th Will Gibson, 3020pts; 5th Jack Parker, 2675pts; 6th Chris Needham, 2640pts