Team Parker Racing was cruelly denied a maiden win in the Ginetta Junior Championship by officials after Chris Swanwick had crossed the line first at Snetterton in Norfolk.
After celebrating his victory on the podium, Swanwick was penalised down to second place for gaining what was deemed to be an unfair advantage at the final corner on the last lap.
Swanwick had just lost the lead and was attempting to regain it into the Russell chicane when he was hit in the side by the new race leader. The Nottinghamshire teenager had no chance of making the bend and ran wide onto the grass. He re-emerged on the circuit in the lead and took the chequered flag, but was later forced down to second.
Team Parker Racing appealed the decision, on the grounds that Swanwick had no option but to run wide due to being hit by another driver, but the appeal failed.
Swanwick was unlucky to be in a position to be challenged in the first place. After taking the team’s first ever Ginetta Junior pole, he was a huge 1.9 seconds in the lead at the end of the opening lap, but his hard-won advantage was erased when the safety car was brought out.
Still, the driver and team were happy with second place after a disappointing run of results, and an incident-filled race earlier in the day. Adam Bonham was the highest-placed Team Parker Racing driver on the grid for this one, in second place, with Swanwick third. Bonham lost out on the first lap to drop to third, but made a brilliant move to reclaim second into the Russell chicane, moments after sliding wide onto the dirt at the preceding corner. Sadly, his pursuer spun while attempting to repass Bonham at the next corner, colliding with the Leicestershire driver and forcing him to retire with broken steering.
Swanwick then moved up to chase down the leader. He attempted to take the lead with three laps remaining, but the move ended in a collision and he dropped to 11th before recovering to 10th.
Bonham was out of luck again in the second race. He qualified alongside Swanwick, on the front row again, but spun at Russell while battling for second. He dropped to 12th and then spun at Russell again on the final lap, before taking 15th place.
Monmouthshire racer Finlay Ractliffe, just 14 years old, again battled hard in both races. He finished both, although needed a pit-stop in the second to repair bodywork damage after unavoidably hitting a spinning car during a midfield scramble on the opening lap.
Team manager Tom Ferrier said: “It’s great that we’ve finally got our first pole position and had a win – for a while! As a weekend this is miles better, and now they’ll be at the front of the grid for the rest of the year and we’ll be able to make more of it. Chris was unlucky with the safety car because he would have gone away from the field.
“Adam was unlucky too – he made a couple of mistakes in the heat of the moment, although the first race was definitely not his fault. Finlay drove well too and got some good lap times.”
The Ginetta Junior Championship again enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Snetterton on ITV4, and was streamed live on itv.com. The next round takes place at the Silverstone National circuit on August 21/22.
