Frustrating event for Ginetta Junior's Stuart Middletondue to unidentified power issues

MIDDLETON SHOWS CLASS IN FINAL SILVERSTONE RACE WITH STORMING DRIVE FROM BACK OF GRID TO FIFTH PLUS FASTEST LAP

Car overhaul for final race of weekend enables Middleton to star in Rd23Fastest lap and P5 from P18 on grid in race three weekend highlight

Stuart Middleton proved his class, and true pace, during the final race of the Ginetta Junior Championship triple-header at Silverstone on Sunday, 18th September, with a truly sensational drive into the top five from the back of the grid – and the fastest race lap of the event.

Frustratingly for the 16-year-old multiple race winner, the penultimate weekend of the 2016 season was largely a head-scratching affair with his Ginetta G40 Junior car suffering from a major lack of straight-line speed during testing, qualifying and the first two races on Saturday, 17th September.

An overhaul of his car by the Douglas Motorsport mechanics prior to race three on Sunday, though, did the trick and Middleton was able to showcase his brilliant best as he stormed through the field from the back of the grid to get tantalisingly close to a podium finish.

Underlining his true performance with the fastest race lap of the weekend, the only driver to dip below the 71 second barrier with a time of 1m10.994 seconds, the Ashington racer is now aiming to sign-off the season a fortnight from now at Brands Hatch back on the top step of the podium.

“Ideally, we should have been able to do what we did in race three in every race this weekend – show some real pace and aggression”, reflected Middleton, “Nothing worked at the start of the weekend, we couldn’t figure out why we were losing so much in a straight-line to everyone else. We changed, literally, everything on the car overnight on Saturday and found pace from nowhere.

“After some of the problems we’ve had recently, we definitely didn’t need this weekend to be how it has so we just have to look for wins at Brands GP in the final round. I’ve got to try and win both races there, I love the Grand Prix track so we’ll hopefully have the same pace we showed in race three here at Silverstone this weekend.”

From the outset in testing, Middleton wasn’t happy with his car’s performance and the lack of straight-line speed hampered his preparations, as well as qualifying where he had to settle for a lower than anticipated ninth on the grid for round 21.

Facing a tough challenge in Saturday’s opening contest from the fifth row of the grid his cause wasn’t aided with the speed issues still prevalent, leaving him with a huge task to try and drive around the problems. He eventually finished the race in 11th position.

Round 22 later in the day was another frustrating outing for the category race winner, in fact more so than the first. Lining-up on the sixth row of the grid, he was shuffled back to 16th place on a very robust first lap but after being put out wide on the second tour he dropped to the tail of the field.

In 20th position and with a mountain to climb, as well needing to recover a huge chunk of time to try and latch on to the back of the pack, he ended the race in 18th position – the result compounding one of the most vexing days of his motor racing career.

Aiming to finish the penultimate weekend of the season with some form of positivity, Middleton’s car was a different beast on Sunday after the team changed all manner of parts and settings to try and unlock some performance. Able to display the kind of pace which has delivered half a dozen wins this year, he served up a memorable drive.

Scorching through into 11th place on the opening lap alone from the back, he set the fastest lap on the second tour before breaking into the top 10 and with the field tightly bunched a podium bid looked increasingly on the cards. Racing fell under Safety Car conditions on lap seven, with Middleton holding seventh, and on the first lap after the re-start he carved his way through into the top five.

With a gap of over two seconds to make up to the next group, there wasn’t enough time left in the race to edge nearer to the podium but fifth marked a stunning turnaround. In actuality, the contest was shortened anyway when an incident at Luffield at the end of lap 10 resulted in red flags.

In the championship battle, despite his difficulties this weekend Middleton departed Silverstone still holding the Vice-Champion’s position 37 points clear of his nearest challenger with only two races remaining this year. They will be contested at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit on 1st/2nd October.

2016 Ginetta Junior Championship Driver Standings (after Rd23):2nd Stuart Middleton, 516pts


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