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The EXCELR8 Motorsport team has strengthened its bid to secure a second successive MINI CHALLENGE JCW title after attracting series front-runner Max Bird into the fold for the 2021 season.

Max joins the team for what will be his third year in the series on the back of a hugely impressive 2020 campaign, where he secured his first wins in the highly competitive one-make championship, and firmly established himself as one of the leading racers in the field.

As with many aspiring stars of the future, Max came through the ranks in karting having first taken to the track at the age of just eight-years-old, before graduating into cars in 2016 with an entry into the Ginetta Junior Championship.

That in turn opened the door for a move into the Ginetta GT5 Challenge – where he was a race winner in both 2017 and 2018 – before the decision was taken to switch into the MINI CHALLENGE for 2019.

After a solid debut season yielded a top ten championship finish, Max marked himself out as one to watch last year across a condensed five round season, shortened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following a tricky start to the year at Donington Park, Max produced a stunning performance at Knockhill where he qualified on the front row of the grid and then picked up a double race win; the first of which was by the largest margin of victory seen all season.

A further win during the season finale at Brands Hatch helped Max to finish fourth in the championship standings, with his three wins over the season being matched only by eventual title winner Nathan Harrison.

Having now joined forces with defending champions EXCELR8 for 2021, Max will go into the season amongst the favourites for the championship title in what looks set to be another hard-fought year on track, with confidence high about his chances as a result of the new partnership.

“I had a successful season in 2020, but I wanted more than just podium finishes and race wins,” he said, “so for 2021, I’ve joined up with EXCELR8 as I believe that they are the right team to help unlock the championship for me. The aim this year is be consistently in the top three in every race, and having a car that is perfectly set up by the team every weekend will be a huge help towards doing this.

“I’m looking to hit the ground running when the season starts, and feel confident about fighting for the title. There are going to be some very fast drivers alongside me on the grid, but I feel I have the experience to be able to pip them to the post.

“I am really grateful to ORBX, BlueBird Developments, Artec Engineering, Core Results Gym and Game Set & Match for helping me get onto the grid again this year. All I can say is, it’s going to be spectacular…”

Team owner Justina Williams revealed she was delighted to welcome Max into the team for the 2021 season.

“As a team we enjoyed a fantastic season in 2020 in the JCW class, and our goal in 2021 is very much to defend the titles we won last year,” she said. “Bringing in a driver like Max is a step towards achieving that goal, as he showed last season that he has the pace and the talent required to win races and be a championship contender.

“I have every confidence that he will be right at the sharp end of the grid from the very start when the season kicks off, and more importantly, will be in the thick of things when it comes to deciding who is the champion at the end of the year.”

The MINI CHALLENGE JCW season will kick off at Snetterton in mid-June, with a total of 19 races spread across seven meetings at the leading circuits across the UK.

Running alongside the British Touring Car Championship, Max’s JCW championship challenge will benefit from live TV coverage throughout the year on ITV4.

Racing will finally start for the Mini Challenge JCW championship on 1st August with racing initially at least behind closed doors. The championship has been reduced to 5 race weekends between August and mid November. With the lifting of restrictions we have been able to do a couple of tests prior to the first race which have been promising and I am looking forward to the first race. I am delighted to be supporting the Race Against Dementia charity in 2020 and will be collecting for the charity at all of my races. 

Round 6 of the Mini Challenge JCW championship was held on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. This was my first time on the GP track and I found it challenge and exciting circuit to race on.

We had an issue in qualifying which turned out to be related to the turbo boost value and I could only manage 15th quickest which was a little disappointing.

Race 1 I had a good close race and finished 10th.

Race 2 I started on pole because of the reverse grid for the race and led for the first 5 laps but I felt the car engine slightly loose power and I dropped down to 5th which I managed to hold until the end of the race.

The Mini Festival is a great weekend of Mini racing in which the Mini Challenge JCW class was the star attraction. This year the Festival took place on the Brands hatch Indy circuit and there was great racing throughout the weekend.

Qualifying was very close with only 1 second covering the top 17 cars on the grid. Unfortunately I got held up on my fastest lap and could only manage 16th place.

Race 1 was very close, I had to take avoiding action in the first corner as 2 cars went off the track which dropped me back a few places which I managed to make back to finish 12th.

Race 2 wasn’t so good as I was shoved off the track on the exit from Druids and into the tyre wall on the second lap and rejoined the track in 26th place, but managed to make back 6 places to finish 20th despite the car having sustained a lot of damage in the early accident.

Race 3 was my best race of the weekend, starting 20th on the grid I had a great race through the field and finished 11th overall. Now I am looking forward to the next race on the Brands GP circuit.

Donington is one of my favourite tracks and one I dominated last year in the final round of the Ginetta GT5 championship, the corners and straights just making it into a perfect flowing circuit.

With continued problems across the season so far I managed to qualify P14 which was pretty good considering the issues throughout the qualifying session. So I would then start race 1 off P14 and before I could complete the green flag lap I broke a drive shaft and this meant I could not start the race, this was just a very unfortunate thing to happen DNS me from Race 1.

I then re-gathered myself for race 2 which I started off P25 due to my earlier race 1 DNS. I was feeling very confident and after a great start I made up a few positions to P20 but I was sure that the car was not running right I progressed on through the race not making up a lot of ground ending up P18 which was a solid finish.

Further component testing after the meeting found that my turbo was faulty and not producing enough power.