Two Wins For Morris and Maiden Ginetta Junior Podium For Moore
Ginetta Junior Championship team Hillspeed enjoyed a tremendously strong outing at Snetterton 300 Circuit over the weekend, 6th/7th August, with runaway points leader Seb Morris taking another pair of wins and rookie team-mate Struan Moore bagging the first podium of his car racing career.Two hard-fought race victories marked 15-year-old Morris' eighth and ninth wins of the 2011 season as the Welsh star increased his championship advantage to a massive 120 points over his nearest rival, with only eight races now remaining this year. Jersey 16-year-old Moore delivered by far his most impressive performance of the campaign and although having to settle for a nonetheless strong seventh place finish in race one, having started the race from a career-best third on the grid, he secured a memorable maiden podium in the second encounter.Hillspeed also ran an additional G40 at the Norfolk track this weekend for car racing debutant William Palmer, the 14-year-old son of MotorSport Vision chief Jonathan and younger brother of GP2 Series racer Jolyon. With very little preparation time ahead of the event, Palmer pleased the team with his rate of progress and he chalked-up two race finishes with a best of 14th place in the opener."Seb did a superb job, he raced strongly and had great pace as usual", said team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, "It's fantastic to be back on the top step of the podium and to have increased the lead at the top of the championship. In the team's standings too we've moved to the top of the points table so, all in all, it's been a very good weekend for Hillspeed."Struan has been improving dramatically of late, he's been working very hard with the team and it's really clicked with him this weekend at the new track. We're absolutely delighted to see him take his first podium. William only had about six or seven hours in a Ginetta before the weekend, he really was in at the deep end but did a very good job indeed - we're delighted with the progress he made."Morris just missed out on pole position for the first of the two races by a mere 0.1 seconds, but his second fastest lap of the session secured the top spot on the grid for the second encounter. Moore did a sensational job to lock-out third on the grid for both rounds while Palmer lined up in 16th place for each outing.At the beginning of round 11, Morris challenged pole-sitter Charlie Robertson into the first corner and grabbed the lead through the infield but slipped back to second behind George Gamble through Coram. Unfortunately for Moore, he wasn't able to get away from the line cleanly and dropped to the edge of the top 10 but he did mount a good recovery and showed strong pace.Morris re-took the lead on lap two at the hairpin when Gamble had a spin and from that point on he managed to control things despite being under intense pressure. Moore battled back into fourth on the penultimate tour but he was forced wide onto the grass on the last lap and eventually finished in seventh. Palmer, meanwhile, took 14th place on his debut and picked-up his pace throughout.For round 12, Morris managed to hold the lead off the line but into the hairpin he was shuffled back to second place behind a fast-starting Jake Giddings. Into Agostini, the championship leader went around the outside of Giddings but a small nudge while side-by-side kept him in second place. He wouldn't be denied though and on lap two he moved into the lead.Under huge pressure, Morris dropped back to second on lap four as this time Robertson hit the front and the Hillspeed racer was also squeezed onto the grass exiting Agostini so the net result saw him bundled back to fourth place. Determined to get back on the podium at the very least, Morris took third at the Esses while dicing hard with Giddings and on the final lap he benefitted from contact between Robertson and Gamble at the same turn to move through and take the lead and the win. Morris also posted the fastest lap.Team-mate Moore held fourth place on lap one, with Giddings having got ahead off the start, and then slipped to fifth as Gamble made his way past on lap two. Running strongly just outside the top four, the first year racer was definitely in with a chance of a maiden podium into the last lap.Following the incident between Robertson and Gamble, the former was delayed enough for Moore to be able to squeeze ahead on the run to the Bomb Hole and he took the chequered flag just 0.4 seconds adrift of Gamble and only 0.8 seconds behind race-winner Morris.As in the opening encounter, Palmer overcame a few on-track moments to post another race finish on his first weekend in cars and in terms of his pace he actually posted a best lap half a second faster than series regular Michael Day.Rounds 13 and 14 of the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship will take place at Knockhill Circuit in Fife four weeks from now on 3rd/4th September, the category's annual visit to Scotland. In the meantime, Hillspeed's Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship squad will travel to the famous Dutch circuit of Zandvoort this coming weekend, 13th/14th August, for a one-off run in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. All three of the team's regular drivers, Zaamin Jaffer, Howard Fuller and Sean Walkinshaw, will make the trip to The Netherlands.