Jake Evans began the defence of his Division 2 title in style at Brands Hatch this past weekend (April 4-5) as the MAN driver claimed four wins from five races at the Kent venue.
Having reigned supreme in his debut season in the British Truck Racing Championship last year, Evans entered the opening meeting of the new campaign as the driver to beat and he duly lived up to all expectations.
Qualifying on Saturday morning around the 1.207-mile Indy circuit proved to be a competitive affair with Evans and Bradley Harvey both trading fastest times. It would ultimately be the Weaver Motorsport DAF of Harvey that would claim the bragging rights though and with it, pole position.
The weekend’s opening contest did however see Evans quickly lay down his marker to the rest of the field. Getting the better of Harvey in the early exchanges, the second-year driver soon pulled clear to triumph in relatively comfortable fashion.
Behind, former champion John Powell – who has returned to Division 2 after a year in the series’ premier class – charged to a fine second place finish while Finnish ace Sami Ojanen hustled his Sisu onto the final step of the podium.
Powell’s return to form continued in race two as the DAF driver went one better. Hitting the front early on, the Greenhous Group Racing driver was wheel-perfect, despite coming under intense pressure from Evans, to tally a well deserved win.
One of the standout drives came from debutant Warren Harvey, who in just his second-ever truck race fought his way up onto the podium in third.
Easter Sunday at Brands Hatch arguably belonged to Evans as the reigning title holder exerted his dominance by taking three wins from three races.
Hitting the front in each contest early on, Evans didn’t look back and comfortably triumphed to open up an early advantage at the head of the championship standings.a
While he starred, the likes of Warren and Bradley Harvey, Powell and Ojanen all added to their silverware collections.
The weekend’s final race also saw a hard-fought podium for last year’s runner-up Callum Eason, a fine reward after he was forced to sit out Saturday’s proceedings.
Meanwhile, Cole Trucksport enjoyed a challenging outing with mechanical issues plaguing Simon Cole while Archie Handy was unable to compete at all.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions, click here: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2026/261421btr.pdf
