Jack Rawles reports on Round 1 of the 2014 Junior Ginetta Championship – Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

2014 has seen one of the largest grids of recent years with 6 drivers returning from last year

Jack Rawles took part in Round one of the Junior Ginetta championship which took place over the weekend Sat 29th/Sun 30th March at Brands Hatch, Kent, on the 1.3 mile long  Indy Circuit, boasting one of the largest grids the championship has seen in recent years, with six drivers returning for a second season and 12 plus rookie drivers. Leading up to the weekend a large amount of press releases were circulating, predicting and speculating the drivers to watch and who was going to be taking home the silverware. The format of the race weekends is a couple of free practice sessions, qualifying, a race on the Saturday and a live televised race, on ITV 4 on the Sunday.

Free practice and qualifying did not go as well as I had expected – I knew in the races I had a challenge ahead of me

The car had been set up over the winter by Tollbar Racing and the team was looking after me for this round. Friday started the weekend with two 30 minute practice sessions, where I used this time to concentrate more on the car set up, its handling and how it felt to drive, rather than getting the best lap times. Saturday morning came along and the 15 minute practice to scrub tyres and brakes would be the first chance I would get to see how I faired against my rivals but an unfortunate misfire in the engine meant that I was way back in 18th out of 20 and could not get a feel for how the car would be on a flying lap as the entry and exit speeds of the corners were considerably lower than usual. Then the most important part of the weekend came around, qualifying and with the lack of track time due to the misfire I was already on the back foot. I just couldn’t seem to hook together a decent lap, I knew I had the pace in the car but the situation I was in was not perfect and the fact that I couldn’t find much track space on the short circuit combined with the factor that I ‘over drove’ the car and tried too hard which means the lap times can be slower due to scrubbing speed instead of being ultra-smooth which is essential in these low powered Ginetta Juniors. I qualified a disappointing 12th for race 1 and 11th for the live televised race 2 on Sunday. These were not the results that I had hoped for.

Race 1 I knew that I had a lot of work to do and I had to stay focused

I knew that the first race of the season was going to be tough and highly competitive; I had my own expectations to live up to and also those of the team, sponsors, followers and the other competitors. I was also up against a large grid made up of returning drivers with experience and skill gained from last year and also the new drivers, and not knowing their ability and level of race craft and new teams and their car set up and tactics. Faced with these challenges, the adrenaline was definitely flowing and I knew I had to stay focused. It is fair to say that I did not expect the level of competition this year to be so high.     Starting 12th on the grid for Race 1 on Saturday meant that I had a lot of work to do. I got a good start and was able to immediately move up the grid but after getting caught up in a 5 lap battle with another driver the leading pack managed to pull a gap and I could only manage 9th place before the chequered flag. I was progressing well and pace was good, I thought I would be able to catch 8th before the end of the race but I started to get ragged and I knew that I needed the points as consistent finishes are key so I backed off and finished the race, I was happy that I had moved forward but there was still more to come. I finished 9^th which meant I earned 12 championship points.

Sunday 30th March 2014 – Crowds building at Brands Hatch – Round one of The British Touring Car Championship – Junior Ginettas as a support race

The scheduled time for Sunday’s race, covered live on ITV4 was 3 O’clock. Race 2 was here and with the banks filling up with people to watch the main races of the BTCC, the 30,000 strong crowd also enjoy the Ginetta Juniors as the close wheel to wheel racing provides such a spectacle as everyone is 14 to 17 years old driving 1.8Litre 110MPH Racing cars. Starting from 11th I got a great start and slotted in behind Dan Zelos of Jamie Hunter Racing and managed to stay out of an incident that was taking place ahead of me. The three car pile-up, involving Jamie Chadwick, James Kellett and Jamie Caroline meant that the race continued under the yellow flag for 5 laps, while we waited for two of the cars that had ended up in the barrier before the first corner, to be made safe. I had worked my way up to 9^th and I was working out how to get the perfect restart, once the yellow flag was deployed and not to allow any cars to get away. I prepared the car by braking and weaving to make sure the brakes and tyres remained hot so the car was ready to go. When I arrived at turn 1 at full race pace, the safety car entered the pit lane and the race was underway, I managed to dive up the inside of Alex Sedgwick, the 2014 Ginetta Scholarship winner, into turn 2 the hairpin and was now in 8^th.

I managed to get up to 4th position, starting 11th on the grid, with Dan Zelos hot on my tail for a fair few laps

I pulled off two more moves and made my way up to 6th, I was on a charge. The car felt brilliant, Tollbar Racing had prepared the car very well and the setup was working. Then Lando Norris (HHC Motorsport) was squeezed onto the grass and I was now up to 5th one lap later Dan Zelos (JHR) made a mistake out of the last corner and I pulled alongside out braking him into turn 1 and gaining 4^th. I had my eyes set on the podium but I had to close down the gap. With 5 laps left I was closing the gap and realised it was possible to be challenging for a podium by the end of the race but I also had Zelos right behind me so it was a fine balance between defending my lines into the corners and also maintaining speed to catch Ben Pearson (R&J Motorsport).   I finally caught Ben Pearson and ‘Lap 1’ on my pit board showed it was the last lap, with Dan Zelos right behind me I had to make the move stick or Dan would overtake the pair of us. Into turn 2 on the last lap I made a dive for the inside but Pearson defended well and I realised the points for 4th place would be very valuable so I settled into the last few turns.  A solid 4th place means I ended the weekend 6th in the driver standings and with my sights set on Donington Park for the 19th and 20th of April I am hoping for a better qualifying position which will help me move further up the grid in the races.

Happy to finish the race in 4th place

I would like to thank my local sponsors,Basingstoke Skip Hire & Southern Waste Management, Alton Motor Parts, Bill Rawles Classic Cars Ltd and Monsterwraps.co.uk. Thank You to Mike, Rubert, Mary-Lou and James of Tollbar Racing for looking after me and the car this weekend. You can keep up to date with my racing by liking my Jack Rawles Racing Facebook Page and if you would like to support me please contact me at Rawles46@hotmail.co.uk  

Here is the race if you would like to watch…

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaKZxwT412s

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Motorsport Photography