Seb Morris is edging closer to the Ginetta Junior crown as the championship heads to Brands Hatch this weekend, October 1st/2nd.
Morris has notched up an amazing season, as the Chester-based race ace has bagged 11 wins from an ultra-consistent season. Eleven wins are impressive in themselves, as is his ability to score, and score well, in every race of the season. Heading into this weekend’s races, he has a 131-point advantage, but he isn’t thinking about the title just yet.
“We’re getting closer and closer to sealing the championship and it could happen at Brands”, says The King’s School, Chester pupil, “But until it’s properly in the bag we’re not taking anything at all for granted. We’ll be working with the same approach we have all year: get the best set-up we can with the car, focus on qualifying as high up the order as we can and then put together two strong races.”
On overall scores, the 15-year-old’s closest challenger is Charlie Robertson some 131 points adrift but when the category’s double drop score ruling comes into play Seb’s attention turns to George Gamble who moves up into the runner-up position, within 105 points of the Hillspeed star.
Both Robertson and Gamble (TJ Motorsport) have been impressive as well in their rookie seasons in the Ginetta G40s. Gamble won a psychological battle by becoming the first person to defeat Morris when he took the chequered flag first at Thruxton and has added wins at Croft and Knockhill to his tally, while Robertson’s HHC Motorsport-run car scooped wins at Croft and Rockingham last time out. Robertson, at 14 the championship’s youngest driver, has also proved adept at taking lap records, four at the last count.
Between them, these three have locked out the wins but there are plenty of other drivers eager to prove their ability before the season closes. Of those to look for this weekend, Max Coates is hunting down William Foster for fourth in the championship, while Niall Murray (Beacon Racing) and Sennan Fielding (TJ Motorsport) have both shown impressive pace of late. So, too, has team-hopper Myles Collins, now at HHC Motorsport, Patrick McClughan (who had a season-nest of seventh at Rockingham) and Sennan Fielding, while Hillspeed’s William Palmer, son of MSV owner Jonathan, will be eager to go well on home soil.
For some of the closest action this weekend, look no further. Free practice for the Ginetta Junior Championship takes place on Saturday October 1st at 09:00 with qualifying at 12:00. Race one takes place on Saturday afternoon at 17:05 over nine laps, with a shorter eight-lap dash on Sunday at 12:10. You can catch Sunday’s action live on ITV4.
