Reigning Ginetta Junior champions Hillspeed celebrated race-winning success once again at Thruxton on Sunday, 1st May, with 15-year-old Seb Morris securing his fifth victory from six outings to increase his lead in the driver standings to a huge 74 points.
The Hathersage team, off the back of winning the first four races of the season with Morris, unfortunately saw its undefeated streak come to an end during round five on Saturday, 30th April, but the series leader hit back superbly in round six to stand atop the podium once again. That said, Morris only missed out by the tiniest of margins in the first encounter following a titanic battle with rival George Gamble - just 0.036 seconds separating the pair as they took the chequered flag side-by-side in a memorable conclusion to the race.
"Seb did a fantastic job this weekend", said Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, "It's a shame he made a mistake in the first race which cost him the win on the line, he made an error with the gears and that made the difference. In race two though he did everything right."
During pre-event testing on Friday, Morris was second quickest with team-mate Struan Moore producing one of his best performances of the season so far with the eighth fastest time - within 0.7 seconds of his fellow Hillspeed runner. Come qualifying on Saturday morning, Moore was even closer to his team-mate. While Morris posted the second fastest time to secure a place on the front row of the grid for rounds five and six, Moore did an exceptional job to qualify third fastest for both encounters on only his third race weekend since graduating from karting.
Holding second place at the beginning of the first of the weekend's races, Morris pressured Gamble immediately and into the flat-out Church Corner he produced a sensational pass on the inside to grab the advantage. Following a short Safety Car period, which began on lap two, the action continued on lap five and having initially pulled a gap of one second at the front Morris unfortunately ran wide at the chicane after clipping the kerbs heavily. Luckily avoiding contact with the barriers on the exit, he somehow managed to hold the lead but on lap nine he ran wide again at the same spot and Gamble was able to go by for the lead.
Tenacious as ever, Morris wouldn't let the win slip through his fingers that easily and at Noble he re-took the lead. On the 12th and final lap, Morris and Gamble were nose-to-tail but a slight mistake with his gear selection into the chicane meant Morris wasn't able to get optimum drive out of the turn and he just missed out on the line by three 100ths of a second.
Moore wasn't able to make the most of his fantastic second row start for round five after slipping back outside the top 10 on the opening lap. The 16-year-old from Jersey made amends as much as he could though with a tremendous drive back through the order to an eventual finish of eighth - his best result of the season so far. In round six on Sunday afternoon, Morris learnt from his opening race error and didn't repeat it by keeping Gamble at bay after passing for the lead on lap seven at the mid-part of the complex.
Able to repel his rival's attack, Morris bagged his fifth win of 2011 - his sixth success of the season so far. Moore delivered a fantastic account of himself during the first half of round six, embroiled in a great scrap for fourth place with Brad Bailey. Into the chicane on lap three, Moore considered a possible overtaking attempt but Bailey kept the inside line and as the duo fought Charlie Robertson closed in. Then, on lap seven, the Hillspeed man ran wide over the grass at the fastest part of the circuit and he was followed by Robertson.
Recovering, albeit with grass filling his radiator, Moore then had an unfortunate spin at the last turn and just moments later his race ended all too early when he was collected by another car as his G40 sat prone on the track.
"Qualifying was very encouraging for Struan and although he had a bad start in the first race, he was superb after that to come back through into a career best finish", said Ollerenshaw, "In race two he had a good start and although he did drop a couple of places he displayed his talent with a very fair battle with Brad Bailey. It's just a shame he went off and then had his spin - this weekend his pace has been better than ever and we've really seen what we know he's capable of."
Rounds seven and eight of the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship will take place five weeks from now over the weekend 4th/5th June at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire. Before then, Hillspeed's Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship squad will be back in action, first at Brands Hatch in Kent on 14th/15th May and then at Oulton Park on Saturday, 28th May.
