Chipping Norton’s Alice Powell dedicated her F3 Cup win at Brands Hatch to her team after having to compete in a spare car.

It saw the 20-year-old Oxfordshire racer stay at the top of the standings.

Powell’s weekend started badly, blowing a head gasket in her engine, which led to her Mark Bailey Racing team having to travel back to their base to pick up a spare car.

She posted the fourth fastest time in qualifying. However, the engine was 4-5mph slower due to its age.

Powell crossed the line in fourth in race one with Alex Craven taking victory, but set the second fastest time of the race, meaning she lined up second on the grid for race two.

“After qualifying, we knew the engine wasn’t strong, so we made a couple of changes to try and help our straight line speed and pull out of the corners,” she said.

“It improved slightly, but not enough, so we took a risk for race two, by taking several holes of wing off to help us up on the straights.”

The change did the trick as Powell took a lights-to-flag victory, with Craven second.

“It was a huge risk taking off the wing, as we knew it would be a handful round the corners, but I managed to control that and have a mistake-free race to take the win,” she said.

“It was a special win and I have to dedicate this to the team for their hard work on getting the spare car ready.”

Standings (top ten): 1 A Powell 173pts, 2 A Craven 162, 3 T Cliffe 120, 4 M Harrison 97, 5 R Watts 79, 6 L Hamilton-Smith 75, 7 D Karaskas 73, 8 G Ussi 56, 9= H Chart, S Wiltshire 55.