Reigning champion, Ben Hancy, leads the way in the championship, as we go into Sunday's #DoningtonDecider. The 2019 champion has carried on where he left off last year, and is on the verge of back to back championship wins. Hancy holds a one point lead over Steve Foden and five over his BS Motorsport team mate, Tom Smith. With 202 points left to be gained on Sunday, 16 drivers go into race one, mathematically in the title hunt, with sights on Hancy.
Being the 2019 champion, Hancy believes that his championship winning campaign last year, will stand him in good stead to repeat this on Sunday, " There's an element of advantage, I know what it takes to get there. I've always set myself high goals, The last meeting of the season, is always a tense affair to see if you can achieve those goals, it's tight but I know what needs to be done."
With the season ending much later than normal, although conditions may be slightly different than usual, Hancy will be taking it in his stride, with this season having been less than normal as a whole, " The weather is unlikely to be at it's best, so in many ways it feels like the start of the season rather than the end, 5 Club has done Donington in the snow before and this year has been full of unique challenges, so business as usual."
Hancy has been fighting at the front of the field for the duration of the season and has enjoyed some great battles along the way, " The racing has been action packed all season, I think the commentators at Silverstone (Josh Barrett and Marcus Pye) called race one, one of the best MX5 races ever. My personal highlight was racing with Ben Short and Ali Bray at Castle Combe, both real hard but fair racers and a proper hard battle."
Leading the championship even by such a small margin going into the final meeting is something which Hancy relishes, " All things being equal I'm in the strongest position, who wouldn't want the maths on their side, one point isn't much of an advantage in MX5 racing, so the approach is no different, we just need to score more points than the competitors. You don't win the championship in a weekend, so we will treat it no differently, to any other race weekend."
Hancy is expecting the racing on Sunday to be as fierce as ever and has predicted who he thinks will be his toughest opposition in the two 15 minute races, " Clearly Steve Foden and Tom Smith are the main focus. If Ben Short hadn't had to miss meetings due to other commitments, it's likely we would have all been chasing him for the championship, so he will no doubt be the man to beat for the race trophies. There are several others on the grid who have the pace to be in the mix for the races. I know there is enough respect in the paddock, that they won't want to get involved in the three main contenders fighting out the championship."
Another dynamic for Hancy, is that his BS Motorsport team mate, Tom Smith, is one of his two main competitors for the championship, " The team has engineered four of the five cars that has won the championship, since it began in 2015. It's great for the team to have two bullets in the gun to maintain that record for 2020. Tom has been a great addition to the team and we've worked well across the season and it shows with two BS Motorsport cars in the fight for the championship. We both have our own interests but with Steve Foden in the mix, it makes no sense for either of us not to work together until it is down to a two horse race, and then no doubt it is every man for himself!"
Hancy has been racing for BS Motorsport for seven years and the team is another important factor that he believes will help guide him to the championship, " I've raced for the team for seven years, the most valuable thing I get from the whole team is knowing I have the car underneath me to do the job, they always turn out a faultless car, this sport is all about confidence. We will have a plan sorted out before the races on communication for the ongoing championship situation, well before the lights go out."
Last season saw judicial proceedings mean that Hancy was not able to be officially crowned the champion, at Oulton Park last season. Should he be successful in defending the championship on Sunday, this championship will be more precious, " The multiple champion thing doesn't really tick any boxes for me, I am not big on records. We missed out on the celebrations at the end of last season, as we had to wait for the outcome of a judicial process. If it does go our way this weekend, it will no doubt be a little sweeter experience to celebrate the championship win with the team at the end of the race."
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