Rob Cox maintains championship Fiesta Junior lead despite 'tricky' weekend

Young racing driver Rob Cox from Flamstead in Hertfordshire maintains his lead in the 2014 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship despite what he describes as 'A tricky weekend' at the Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire. The 17 year-old took pole position for the first of the two races but eventually claimed a pair of podium finishes to stretch his points lead as the series reaches its mid-way point.

Cox spent the first of the weekend's two free practice sessions shaking down his WDE Motorsport-run Ford Fiesta ST following its rebuild after an accident at the last round. The second free practice session was wet, like the first and Cox spent his time dialing-in the pace in the Fiesta in preparation for the afternoon's qualifying session. By the end of the practice, he was 1.2 seconds faster than any other Fiesta driver.

Qualifying saw a turn to dry conditions and Rob put in his fastest lap, and that of the session, on his second tour of the circuit. Following laps were slower, as Rob felt he was over-driving the car but he still claimed the pole position, with a fastest lap, by 0.2 seconds.

Sunday's first race was again wet but Rob made a good start to lead the field after the first lap. However, on the second, he made a slight mistake and ran wide on to the grass, losing the lead in the process.

He chased the now-leader hard for the next three laps while establishing the best place to try to regain the lead of the race. He saw an opportunity and pulled alongside the leader into a braking zone. However, the leader cut across the circuit on the brakes forcing Rob onto the grass, where he spun down the order, to last place.

He regained the circuit and began to pass cars, eventually finishing fourth on the road. However, the eventual winner, who was involved in the incident, failed post-event scrutineering on a technical issue and was disqualified, so Rob was classified as third.

The second race saw Rob start from third place, following the result from race one but he missed a gearchange on the first lap and the loss in momentum caused him to once again get passed and end up at the back of the pack. He fought his way back to second place but felt the Fiesta's engine begin to lose power. Then, with just ½ a lap to go, the engine expired virtually completely and the third-placed driver overhauled him on the way to the finish line. He was eventually classified third.

However, he was rewarded with the fastest lap of the race, a new lap record for the Junior Fiestas at Cadwell Park.

The results, combined with the second-placed driver in the series non-finishing and the disqualification for the race one winner means that Rob extends his overall lead in the series, with four more race weekends to run.

Commenting, he said; "On paper, it didn't look like a particularly successful weekend but we got a really useful haul of points and I learned a huge amount - about myself and about racing.

"With the fastest lap and pole position and the disqualification and non-finish, we actually took a really good haul of points to stretch our lead in the series, which is ultimately what we set out to achieve.

"We also enjoyed some really good racing and I learned a lot about the nature of the sport and also, about myself. Paul Revett, the team manager, was a huge help to me this weekend, giving me a lot of advice on how to avoid over-driving the car and on balance, I'm pleased with the way it all went."

The next round of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship takes place at Donington Park on the weekend of 12/13 July


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