HHC Motorsport enjoyed a highly competitive weekend in both the Ginetta Junior Championship and the Ginetta Challenge at the weekend.
The Harrogate-based team split itself in two as it ran cars at both Rockingham and Knockhill. The popular Ginetta Challenge raced at Rockingham where the team ran cars for Richard Sykes and Rick Parfitt junior and Rick had his best weekend yet. On a wet road, he battled his way from fifth on the grid to grab the lead. Coping brilliantly with the awful conditions, Rick eased past more experienced racers to head the 30-car field but ultimately was caught out by the slippery track and rotated out of the lead. His final result of seventh was poor reward for a stellar effort early in the race. His efforts to make amends in race two were thwarted as well after contact caused his bonnet to fly up and obscure his vision. The damage sustained spelt retirement for Rick, but the team’s honour was upheld by Richard Sykes. After a driveshaft problem in race one, Richard charged from fourth on the grid to second place at the end of the 20-minute race.
The team also ran Autocar journalist Vicky Parrott who made her race debut. Vicky was caught out by the wet road in the opening race and slipped off the circuit, but posted her first ever race finish in the second race by taking 23rd position.
The team’s Ginetta Junior Championship drivers headed to Knockhill where pre-event testing went well. However, heavy rain the night before qualifying undid some of the team’s work and meant that the circuit felt different come Saturday, costing the cars a little pace. Charlie Robertson qualified eighth and seventh for the two races, while Myles Collins made his HHC Motorsport debut and put his car ninth on the grid for both races.
The opening race contained accidents aplenty and Charlie and Myles did their best to keep out of trouble. In doing so, they became mired in traffic and rather than muscle a way past their rivals, they tried their best to overtake when opportunities arose. Charlie took fifth and Myles ninth, but post-race it was discovered that Charlie’s car had suffered a bearing failure in the diff that cost him pace. Also, Myles’ race was affected by a bent trackrod and both drivers went into race two confident that they could go faster.
Charlie had a promising start and ran third from seventh on the grid, taking second from Sennan Fielding after a safety car period. However, he was tagged into a spin by Fielding and he fell to seventh with two laps to go. Charlie’s recovery to third was a highlight of the race. Myles followed Charlie as he worked his way up the field but suffered from backing off to avoid a wayward Declan Jones who had a grassy moment. As Myles braked to avoid him, he was mugged for two places and fell to seventh.
HHC Motorsport’s Charlie Kemp said: “It has been another weekend of HHC Motorsport displaying its pace. Each driver proved that they can run competitively and we are delighted with podium results for Charlie and Richard. Rick’s effort at Rockingham was fantastic and only inexperience tripped him up, and Myles’ first races for us were very impressive and we are thrilled to be running him for the remainder of the season. We know that more wins aren’t far away and we will be back at Rockingham with the Junior cars in two weeks time.”
