STARLET MOORE BACK IN CONTROL OF GINETTA JUNIOR TITLE RACE
Tockwith Motorsport’s Sarah Moore made a welcome return to the top step of the Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance podium at Silverstone National Circuit yesterday afternoon, Sunday, 30th August, with an outstanding victory during round 16 of the season – her fourth win of the year and first since the Donington Park meeting back in May.
While the 15-year-old kick-started her 2009 title challenge superbly in very tricky damp and drizzly conditions, for chief rivals Jake Cook and Aaron Williamson the race did throw a spanner in the works for their own respective bids as the all-action series took another twist. That said, all three drivers are still well within reach of the crown, as is fourth placed Alex Austin.
Moore’s win has lifted her two points clear of Cook in the driver standings while Williamson is a further 14 points adrift. Austin, meanwhile, is effectively a race win away from the lead with a 35 point deficit to Moore. The only thing certain at this stage, with four races yet to run, is that one of these four will be the 2009 Ginetta Junior Champion.
Speaking after her win, Moore said: “It’s great, that result is really good for me as I needed the points for the championship. After I saw Jake (Cook) had gone off I knew I had a good chance to claw back some points on him. To take the lead of the championship back is brilliant.”
Chris Swanwick started round 16 from pole position, his fourth of the season, with Cook alongside on the front row ahead of Moore, Tom Ingram, Jake Rattenbury, Mitchell Hale, Louise Richardson and Williamson.
At the start, Swanwick and Cook made an even getaway but behind, Ingram and Rattenbury both made outstanding launches to challenge for the lead into Copse. Rattenbury emerged at the head of the field as the cars negotiated Becketts for the first time with Cook second but on the exit of the turn the leader ran wide and opened the door for Cook to go through.
On the run to Brooklands, Cook, Rattenbury and Swanwick were three abreast but they struggled through the corner on the slippery track and both Cook and Swanwick ended up spinning – the latter was out on the spot and although Cook did rejoin a long way down, he soon retired on lap two. Hale also followed the duo into the gravel but he, at least, eventually posted a 14th place finish.
Rattenbury continued to lead the race, by a healthy 1.8 seconds into lap three, but at that point Moore started to get into her stride and began to post fastest lap pace. Moving ahead of Richardson for third on the fourth tour, Moore then almost immediately climbed into second position at the expense of Tom Howard at Maggotts.
Richardson got pushed back to sixth and latterly out of the top 10, an unfortunate end to a promising run, but at the same time Williamson started to make his presence felt and on lap six he took third place from Howard.
The lap prior, Moore grabbed the lead for the first time into Brooklands and from then on she proved her skill and class in the difficult conditions by opening up a fairly comfortable 2.3 second winning margin over the equally impressive Austin. He bounced back well from an early spin and also posted the fastest lap of the race, some four 10ths of a second quicker than anyone.
Like Austin, Williamson produced a spirited drive and he too recovered from a spin to climb back into an eventual podium placing. Slipping to 11th on lap eight, on the following tour Williamson was into eighth and he then gained two further positions in quick succession. On lap 10, he then passed two more cars to move ahead into fourth place.
Heading into Brooklands on the final tour, Williamson dived up the inside and grabbed third from Rattenbury with a great pass to clinch a very impressive podium. Rattenbury finished a career best fourth, Howard was fifth and Ingram – on his return to racing – was sixth.
Today’s action served to show this title contest is likely to go down to the wire during the final race of the year at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in October, the championship well and truly wide open once again just a day after seemingly being in Cook’s grasp.
Austin, producing a terrific run through to second place, commented: “This weekend I really needed to get podiums and points to climb back up the championship. We haven’t had the best run but hopefully this weekend has helped to get us back on track.”
With the 2009 Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance title battle as close and as unpredictable as ever, there are now just three weeks to wait until the 17th and 18th rounds of the season which will take place on 19th/20th September at Rockingham in Northamptonshire.
Provisional 2009 Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance Positions (after Rd16):1st Sarah Moore, 360pts; 2nd Jake Cook, 358pts; 3rd Aaron Williamson, 344pts; 4th Alex Austin, 325pts; 5th Chris Swanwick, 247pts; 6th Mitchell Hale, 246pts
