.png "MSVT")
Saturday 15 November played host to the final two rounds of the 2025 Miata Trophy season, with James Cossins and Tyler Mcalpin taking a race victory apiece at Brands Hatch, on a day that saw Aidan Hills officially crowned the 2025 Champion!
Qualifying took place behind the Safety Car, due to fog at the Kent circuit. The grid for the day’s first race was thereby based on championship order, with the top ten reversed for the second race.
Race One
A strong start by Cossins propelled the #24 driver into the lead. His Hills Motorsport teammate Lee was another to utilise a good launch to take second, while Hills – driving a Mk4 Class ND MX-5 this weekend – finished the first lap in third place.
Mcalpin was pushing hard to challenge the three cars in front, as the 32-strong grid all jostled to try and rise through the order in the opening stages.
Will Morris, John Langridge and Jack Brewer were all battling hard just outside of the top four places, while an epic duel between Hills, Lee and Mcalpin was unfolding just ahead. At the same point, Cossins expertly used the action behind to build a small buffer to the chasing pack, as the race clock counted down.
Elsewhere, there was plenty more exhilarating racing on display. Almost nothing could separate the likes of: Michael Knibbs, Will Powell and Oliver Allwood, while Lee Dendy-Sadler, Damon Wellman and Chris Dawkins had shown a number of solid overtakes to run higher up the order than they had started.
Up front, Cossins continued to lead, seeing out the remainder of the race to take his second-ever Miata Trophy victory! The gap to the pursing Hills ultimately stood at 1.954s when the race finished, with Hills claiming the Class ND winners trophy.
A mere 1.001s covered the next three finishers, with Lee holding on to finish ahead of Morris on the Class NC podium and Mcalpin narrowly missing out.
To further highlight the competitiveness of the race and Miata Trophy as a whole, the next six finishers were covered by just 1.984s! Brewer, Allwood, Langridge, Knibbs, Powell and James Blake-Baldwin being the drivers in question, finishing in that order.
Race Two
An excellent opening lap from Powell stole the lead for the Paul Sheard Racing driver. Mcalpin followed closely in second, with Langridge keeping the front two honest in third. There was only 0.439s between the top three as they crossed the timing line at the end of the first lap. Morris was again making early progress to run fourth, in close proximity to Allwood, Lee and Fletcher.
Lee then made inroads on Morris ahead, mustering an overtake as both drivers sought a second podium of the day. Blake-Baldwin and Brian Chandler were two drivers on a mission to charge through the field, as was Hills after starting tenth from the reversed grid.
As the race progressed, Mcalpin had taken the lead and was clearly looking to utilise the battling for the remaining podium spots to build a gap to his rivals – in a similar fashion to how Cossins had in the previous race. Also similar to the first race was the constant overtaking that was on show throughout the grid, putting on a fantastic spectacle for those watching.
When the checkered flag fell, Miata Trophy had a new race winner. Mcalpin had expertly seen out the remaining laps to take his maiden win with the championship – in only his first season of circuit racing.
Langridge’s staunch defence earned the Miller Motorsport driver second, just 0.290s ahead of Class ND winner Hills. As he did in the day’s earlier race, Morris completed the Class NC podium – but sensationally only by 0.045s over teammate Lee!
Powell would take home fifth, with: Simon Baldwin, Blake-Baldwin, Allwood and Cossins rounding out the top ten.
The MX-5 Owner’s Club voted Brian Chandler as the Driver of the Day, following an tremendous race two – gaining twenty places from where he started on the grid!
Congratulations to all.
Miata Trophy will return in 2026. Keep an eye on the championship’s website and social media pages for the latest information.
Photo: Gary Hawkins Photography