Morris Takes Ginetta Junior Win Number 10

Hillspeed enjoyed a highly successful trip north of the border at the weekend, 3rd/4th September, for the latest two rounds of Ginetta Junior Championship action at Knockhill in Scotland - points leader Seb Morris secured his 10th win of 2011 and rapid rookie Struan Moore sealed a double podium.For Jersey-based Moore, in particular, the event proved to be a real watershed moment as he delivered a pair of sensational race drives. Having taken a maiden podium at Snetterton during the previous event, the teenager added two more rostrums and also set the fastest lap in each race.Championship leader Morris qualified on the front row for both encounters, rounds 13 and 14, and added victory number 10 to his season's tally in the opener. Some robust action in the second race cost him the chance of another podium, but sixth place wasn't all bad for the Marford driver.While Morris departs Scotland with a lead of exactly 100 points at the top of the driver standings, Moore has leapfrogged into ninth in the championship - up from 13th prior to the weekend. In terms of the team standings, Hathersage-based Hillspeed has increased its lead to more than 70 points."It's been a fantastic weekend at Knockhill", said team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, "Seb drove very well all weekend and to take another win was superb - 10 victories from 14 starts really does speak for itself. Struan has been in outstanding form, he really is becoming a major force in the championship and a first win for him can't be too far away. We're delighted with both of them."In qualifying on Saturday, Morris took second on the grid for both races - just missing out on pole position by 0.1 seconds in each instance - while Moore secured fourth on the grid for the opening encounter and sixth on the grid for race two.Although pole-sitter George Gamble managed to just hold off Morris' attack into turn one of the first race, Morris pressured hard and went through into the lead at the chicane when Gamble made a small mistake. Building his lead to well over three seconds, that advantage was negated with the appearance of the Safety Car on lap 11 but at the re-start Morris did everything right and on lap 17 he took the flag 1.1 seconds clear. In race two, a lot of contact resulted in Morris being bundled down the order on more than one occasion but he maintained good composure to take a creditable top six finish.In race one, Moore held fourth position until lap four when he moved up to third at the expense of Gamble and as he traded fastest lap times with several others he climbed into second on lap six when Jake Giddings made an error. Moore then secured the fastest lap on the ninth tour.With a dream Hillspeed one-two on the cards, after the Safety Car period Moore continued well but at the hairpin a late attack by Gamble seized second and demoted the Channel Islander to third. In race two though, Moore made the runner-up spot his after a superb drive from sixth on the grid. On lap 10 he moved into second place and once again posted the fastest lap to cap a memorable event.Rounds 15 and 16 of the Ginetta Junior Championship will take place a fortnight from now over the weekend 17th/18th September at Rockingham in Northamptonshire.Fuller takes pair of consistent top 10 results at Thruxton While Hillspeed's Ginetta Junior squad was in action in the Kingdom of Fife, some 450 miles south at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire the team's Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship drivers were competing in the penultimate event of the 2011 season.For India's Zaamin Jaffer, who headed into the weekend seventh in the standings, the Thruxton visit was very much a mixed affair after a highly unfortunate non-finish in round nine - the result of a heavy impact at the exit of the chicane - was redressed with a top 10 finish in round 10.Eighth and ninth place finishes in the two races enabled Howard Fuller to move ahead of Jaffer in the championship table, the Kingston-upon-Thames racer climbing into ninth position, one spot ahead of his team-mate. For Sean Walkinshaw, meanwhile, his rookie year continued well with two strong race finishes - 13th and 14th in the two outings respectively.Qualifying didn't got according to plan for Fuller and Jaffer with the 13th and 14th best times but for Walkinshaw the session was promising as he posted the 17th quickest lap. In race one, Fuller avoided incident and made excellent progress into the top eight prior to the appearance of the Safety Car at mid-distance - which was unfortunately required after an incident involving Jaffer and Jack Dex.Dex locked-up exiting the chicane and, with nowhere to go, Jaffer was unable to avoid contact which resulted in considerable damage. With no time to clear away the cars, red flags were shown and a result was declared after eight laps.In round 10, Fuller again made his way neatly up the order but this time Jaffer was right there with him to the finish with only 0.7 seconds splitting the Hillspeed cars at the chequered flag - both, in turn, bottled up behind eighth placed Hector Hurst. Walkinshaw had a close battle with Tom Walker and at the end, only 0.4 seconds separated the pair at the line in the latter's favour."Thruxton was quite a tough weekend for the guys down there", added Ollerenshaw, "Howard came through well in both races, along with Zaamin in the second one, but qualifying was the problem as it left them a lot of work to do. Sean's progress continues well and it's good to see him fighting hard for position as he steadily gets quicker and quicker as the season unfolds."Provisional 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship Standings (after Rd14) 1st Seb Morris, 437pts; 9th Struan Moore, 159ptsProvisional 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship Team Standings (after Rd14) 1st Hillspeed, 596ptsProvisional 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship Standings (after Rd10) 9th Howard Fuller, 118pts; 10th Zaamin Jaffer, 105pts; 21st Sean Walkinshaw, 35pts

Related Motorsport Articles

84,552 articles