After spinning out of the lead during the weekend's first race, Tollbar Racing with Wired's Jake Hill took victory in round four of the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship with a dominant showing from his fourth pole in as many races.
Starting from pole gave Hill the best chance of success – and he carried on his record of leading every race he has entered. As the lights went out, fellow front row starter Louise Richardson of TJ Motorsport looked to have got the jump on the sixteen year old from Kent, but Hill held the inside at turn one and was never challenged after that.
Behind Hill, Richardson dropped back to third on the opening lap to Alex Austin, who had climbed up from the third row of the grid and made amends for a spin in the opening race of the weekend.
Ingram was now on the tail of the TJ Motorsport runner with Chris Swanwick behind the driver from High Wycombe. Lap two saw the Nottingham based youngster make contact with Team Eurotech's David Moore at Pif-Paf, delaying both drivers and undoing the good work which Moore had produced earlier in the lap. Moore dropped down to seventeenth place after the incident.
Up at the front, Hill continued to pull away from the rest of the field – he ended the eight lap race with a gap of just under five seconds. The battle for the podium positions behind Hill was hotting up – with Austin, Richardson and Ingram being joined by impressive rookie Jody Fannin and race one victor Tom Howard.
Ingram's team mate Seb Morris was producing his best performance in his short race car career and was as high as seventh during laps four to six, before dropping back behind the recovering Swanwick.
The final couple of laps round the 1.94 mile Rockingham circuit saw the battle for the podium intensify as Ingram closed in on Richardson, who closed in on Austin. Ingram set a new lap record during his charge, a 1:38.832 being the best lap of the race.
The final lap saw Austin secure second at Pif-Paf, as Ingram closed in on Richardson through Yentwood. Third place wasn't decided until after the race – on track, Ingram made his move for the position at the final chicane at Brook, looking to the inside and making contact with Richardson. The contact caused Richardson to spin and recovered to finish just less than four seconds behind Ingram in fourth.
Richardson led home the sister cars of Fannin and Howard, with Swanwick seventh, Morris eighth, Jake Giddings ninth and Adam Bonham tenth. Reigning Champion Sarah Moore was in the wars again and finished down in eleventh, with her younger brother in thirteenth.
After the race, the Clerk of the Course gave Ingram a four second penalty, which relegated him to fourth, promoting Richardson to third.
Speaking at the end, Hill summed up his weekend: “Yesterday was a bit disappointing but today was an amazing finish to the weekend, the car has been working really well all weekend, big thanks to the guys at Tollbar, and I'm delighted I was able to get the win today. It's fantastic to be on the top step of the podium again.”
For Austin, his second podium finish of the season made up for the disappointment of race one: “Yesterday was a bit unlucky, I should have had a podium then but after the spin I had to fight through from the back. I wanted to make up for that today and get a podium so I'm very happy to have done so.”
Rounds five and six of the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship take place at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit next weekend, the 1st/2nd May.
Race Two Results:
- Jake Hill: 8 laps in 13:21.942
- Alex Austin: +4.879s
- Louise Richardson: +12.805s
- Tom Ingram: +12.807s
- Jody Fannin: +12.893s
- Tom Howard: +13.798s
- Chris Swanwick: +26.026s
- Seb Morris: +26.718s
- Jake Giddings: +27.612s
- Adam Bonham: +33.124s
Championship Positions after round four of twenty:
- Jake Hill: 107 Points
- Tom Ingram: 100 Points
- Louise Richardson: 100 Points
- Alex Austin: 96 Points
- David Moore: 86 Points
- Tom Howard: 81 Points
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
