Jack Rawles shows a positive approach at Silverstone

Sat 28th & Sun 29th Sep 2013 – the penultimate round of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Cars and The Junior Ginettas at Silverstone National Circuit

Bill Rawles and his team have almost completed a whole season supporting Jack Rawles competing in his first year of motorsport in his Ginetta G40. Running as a privateer was a brave challenge to take on board when the majority of competitors are being looked after by very experienced professional teams and probably working off a very large race budget. Bearing these factors in mind the results are nothing to be ashamed of, with Jack remaining in the middle of the championship table.

As the 2013 championship draws to an end there are still prizes to be gained

The juniors saw Harry Woodhead claim the provisional 2013 Junior Ginetta title at the previous round held at Rockingham but as the championship draws to a close there are still other positions up for grabs and to be battled for, namely second and third places, the rookie cup and if these sights are out of reach personal bests and individual goals.

During qualifying a parts failure, rubbing against the back wheels acted as a brake and caused rim damage

Qualifying was carried out with a parts failure which stopped the wheels from turning freely, and prevented the car from achieving acceptable speeds, resulting in qualifying 14^th for the first race of the weekend  and 12^th for the second race out of a grid of 16.

Jack said “After the initial disappointment of qualifying badly I knew that in both races I had a lot of work to do and I was up for the challenge”.

Jack came from almost the back of the grid, still gaining places when a motorsport incident happened

Sunday saw Silverstone, the home of British motorsport, packed with fans ready for the excitement of the day’s races. The first junior race was a close battle, with the cars racing in close proximity of each other throughout the majority of the 11 laps, often dependent on someone making a mistake in order to gain places. Jack started almost at the back of the grid and steadily climbed to be amongst the action. Still with the potential to gain places with the end of the race in sight early braking by another competitor meant unavoidable contact, giving rise to a damaged bonnet, reduction of speed, loss of places and finally finishing 12 out of 16.

With no time to waste, all hands to the deck, thank you to everyone that made it possible for Jack to compete in his second race of the day

Due to the bonnet damage it was debatable whether Jack would be able to participate in the second race. Luckily due to a late race, time was on our side to carry out the crash repairs and we were fortunate that Ginetta spares had the necessary parts in stock at the track, coupled with the help of a new sponsor on board and the positive we can do attitude of the Bill Rawles Classic Car team, Jack was out on the grid ready to go again with a new look black and white livery. The new bonnet was 10kg lighter than the very old, over repaired one, so lead had to be added to bring the car up to weight.

The new look black and white car made following Jack on the track quite a challenge

Starting 12th on the grid Jack again managed to pull himself up through the ranks, gaining a few places, with the lead pack not that far out of sight. Luck was not on Jacks side this weekend when on  lap 7 a newcomer made a misjudgement, resulting in contact and being pushed onto the grass at Brooklands. A combination of a hard recovery and another competitor also having contact with this new driver on lap 11 at Becketts meant that in this final lap Jack got the better exit out of Lough Field and finished 13^th ahead of them. No further action was taken regarding either of the above contact incidents due to in car camera malfunctions and therefore it was deemed that there was insufficient evidence.

A disappointing weekend shows on Jack Rawles face

All in all a disappointing race weekend for Jack Rawles which had had all the promising of a much better one.

Bill Rawles said “Jacks results do not reflect his ability, this weekend I can confirm that the poor performance was due to Jacks car set up and not his skill. We all believe in Jack and he is developing all the time. Things are looking up for his future in motorsport and we are all looking forward to the last round of the championship at Brands  Hatch on Saturday  12^th and Sunday 13^th October “

As always all races can be watched live on ITV4  or on You Tube 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship – Round 18 – Silverstone or to keep up to date follow Jack Rawles Racing on Facebook or take a look at the official Ginetta website.