The season grand finale of the British Truck Racing Championship took place on the 4th and 5th November at Brands Hatch. Stuart and his team from Team Oliver Racing were there early, setting up on Thursday after a previous commitment saw the team travelling to the event from the F1 test track in Valencia.
The test sessions on Friday went well for both Stuart and Michael, who went out to complete the fifteen-minute qualification session to post lap times. In the challenging conditions Stuart missed out on pole position by less than four tenths of a second. Michael posted a lap time that secured a starting position on the fifth row.
Saturday afternoon offered very wet racing conditions for the drivers to contend with. These conditions got worse as the Class A truck races got underway. When crossing the finish line for the first race, Stuart managed to keep hold of fourth place overall, and Michael finished the race in tenth.
For the start of the second race on Sunday, the rain had passed and the sun was shining. Unfortunately, this race wasn’t as smooth for Team Oliver, with Stuart receiving a hit from the rear, causing him to be pushed sideways into another truck and causing significant damage to his front axle damper and bursting a rear tyre. This damage led to handling difficulties for the driver throughout the rest of the race. Michael managed to hold his own during this second race and finished in sixth ahead of Stuart’s eighth.
The fourth and grand final race of the Brands Hatch then got underway. The twenty-truck grid was put into reverse grid format, and the success that had been experienced by the Team Oliver drivers meant that the field was not looking favourable. Michael started the race in the middle of the field and Stuart was placed near to the back. The last race of the season is also more packed than normally expected, adding another challenge for the drivers to negotiate. Both drivers were quick to get to work moving up the rankings, and by the time the race finished Stuart had managed to move his way up to second position, with Michael also managing to finish in ninth place overall at the 2017 British Truck Racing Championships.
