Less than a second covered the top three finishers during a typically action-packed eighth round of the Ginetta Junior Championship season at Oulton Park, Sunday, 6th June – Tollbar’s Jake Hill putting together a strong performance to claim his fourth victory of 2010.
The result, ahead of TJ Motorsport pairing Jody Fannin and Louise Richardson, kept up the Kent teenager’s record of winning the televised Sunday race at each of the four events held so far this year. Finishing in fourth place this afternoon was Hillspeed’s Tom Ingram, the championship leader continuing to head the standings but by a reduced margin of nine points.
“I can’t believe we’ve won again”, commented Hill at the conclusion of the eighth round, “After such a hard fight this is what we deserve. I’m really, really happy. Tollbar gave me a great car again today and I made the most of it.”
Pole-sitter, and round seven winner, Fannin held the advantage at the start but Richardson nosed ahead as the cars approached Old Hall for the first time. Holding the inside line, Fannin was able to repel his team-mate’s challenge as Ingram moved into third ahead of Hill and Tom Howard slotted in behind just ahead of David Moore.
With just 0.5 seconds splitting the top two into the second tour, Hill took third from Ingram into the hairpin shortly after Moore had moved up the order with a pass on Howard at Cascades. Moore’s gain was short-lived though when Howard and Alex Austin got past.
The Safety Car was deployed on lap three to allow recovery of Finlay Ratcliffe’s stricken car and at the re-start just a lap later, Hill prepared to pounce for second place. Into Cascades, the multiple race winner got ahead of Richardson and then set about reeling in round seven victor Fannin.
Austin and Moore, fighting it out at the tail of the top six, made contact at Druids and the result was an instant retirement for the FML driver. Moore, meanwhile, recovered to finish in seventh place in the end ahead of the improving Jake Giddings, impressive privateer Max Coates and championship returnee Carl Stirling in the HHC car.
Back at the front Fannin continued to lead but on lap five at Cascades, Hill once again produced a terrific move to take first place. Unsettled, Fannin then slipped behind Richardson at the hairpin but he quickly hit back into the chicane.
As the top three battled fiercely, Ingram held a solid fourth place with one eye on his championship lead. Hill pressed on at the front but couldn’t shake off the attentions of Fannin and Richardson while, further down the order, Chris Swanwick was shown the black and orange warning flag as his bonnet became severely dislodged and disrupted his vision.
Into the penultimate tour, lap eight, Hill’s lead was down to just 0.4 seconds but barring any mistakes the Tollbar racer looked set for victory. He duly sealed the win on lap nine, a mere six 10ths of a second clear of Fannin with Richardson just 0.3 seconds further adrift.
Ingram’s fourth place underlined his continued consistency – only once this season has he finished any lower than fifth position – while Howard grabbed more valuable points in fifth, 11 seconds clear of Sarah Moore.
Although disappointed to miss out on an Oulton Park double, Fannin said: “To take a first and second place finish from the weekend is not too bad, I can’t complain with those results. Points are points and it’s a long championship. Hopefully I can do just as well at Croft, we’re feeling optimistic.”
Third placed Richardson, who is just 11 points shy of the championship lead, added: “I’m not too disappointed, two podiums in one weekend is good. Championship wise, we’ve closed on the leader so I’m really happy – it’s been a brilliant weekend.”
Next on the calendar for the Ginetta Junior Championship racers is a visit to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire – effectively the home event for Ginetta Cars – for the ninth and 10th rounds of the 2010 season. The fifth race meeting of the year will take place over the weekend 19th/20th June.
Provisional 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after Rd8):1st Tom Ingram, 188pts; 2nd Jake Hill, 179pts; 3rd Louise Richardson, 177pts; 4th David Moore, 160pts; 5th Jody Fannin, 159pts; 6th Tom Howard, 157pts
