Championship leader Tom Ingram made a perfect start to a crucial weekend in the Ginetta Junior Championship by putting his Hillspeed run Ginetta G40 on Pole Position for Rounds 17 and 18 of the series at Donington Park, making it
In the title battle, Ingram's perfect session sees him stretch his title lead by a further two points, though it could be by much more tomorrow after a tough session for both his title rivals. Jake Hill set the pace early on, but slipped back as the session wore on, putting his Tollbar Racing car 5th for the first race and 8th for the second.
TJ Motorsport ace Louise Richardson suffered a much worse session, with tyre pressure problems forcing her to pit during the session, ruining her rhythm. When she returned to the track, she was unable to post the lap times she wanted, ending up an uncharacteristic 13th on the grid for Round 17 and 16th for Round 18, leaving herself with a lot of work to do in the races to remain in the title fight.
After usurping Hill at the top of the times, Ingram was soon facing a surprise duel for pole position with team mate, 14 year old Seb Morris. The pair began trading fastest times, but Ingram came out on top with a best time of 1m32.522 seconds. Morris' best qualifying performance of the season sees him line up second for both races, creating a Hillspeed front row for the first time in the team's maiden Ginetta Junior season.
Behind, after an exciting session saw the order changing lap after lap, David Moore came out on top to take third place for Round 17, with sister and reigning champion Sarah Moore making a Eurotech Racing lockout of row two in fourth. Adam Bonham joins Hill on row three for local outfit Team Parker Racing, ahead of Max Coates and William Foster, who was running as high as fourth at one point during the session for Tockwith. Brad Bailey and Jody Fannin round out the top ten.
With driver's second best times making up the grid for Round 18, it's Sarah Moore who lines up behind the Hillspeed front row in third, joined on row two by Bonham. A brilliant performance by Coates sees him line up fifth, alongside Foster. David Moore line up ahead of Hill on row four, with Ryan Ratcliffe and Bailey completing the top ten.
Commenting on qualifying, pole-sitter Ingram said: “We went out trying to get some heat into the tyres early on and I always expected a few people to spin and maybe even a red flag at some point because of the weather
“So it was a case of getting a banker lap in fairly early and then working on it from there. I loved the conditions, the car was working really well, and my closest rivals finished a fair way behind me so that's obviously what I need.”
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
