Seb Morris Celebrating His Championship Success - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Seb Morris secured the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship with a meeting to spare after a double podium finish during Rounds Seventeen and Eighteen at Brands Hatch, the 15 year old adding the full crown to his 2010 Winter Series success.
Marford-based Morris has dominated the 2011 season, taking eleven victories and fourteen podium finishes in the eighteen races contested so far, the Liberty Properties and Legat Owen-sponsored driver making it back-to-back Junior Championship triumphs for his Hillspeed team.
Heading into the weekend, Morris knew two solid finishes would give him the title. Qualifying fifth for the opening race, Morris got bundled back to sixth on the opening lap, but avoiding incidents ahead, he picked his way through the field, getting into the podium positions on lap six.
Morris took the lead on lap eight and held the place going onto the final lap, but Niall Murray challenged him and contact between the two on the final lap sent Murray wide, with Morris powering on for the win. Post-race though, Murray and his team lodged a protest and Morris was awarded a three second time penalty. This dropped Morris to second, but it was still enough to secure the title.
Round Eighteen saw Morris start a lowly eighth, but a trademark strong opening lap saw him up to fifth by the end of it. Challenging for fourth over the next few laps, Morris finally got the place on lap five, before benefitting from mistakes by two rivals ahead to storm into second. Despite pressuring the leader hard, Morris couldn't find a way past, settling for second.
Morris said: “That was an absolutely great race, I really enjoyed it. There was loads of action and to come through from eighth and nearly win was fantastic. We proved our point again this weekend, to win the championship with races in hand shows what a strong season it's been for us.
“We've worked really hard for this. I can't thank the team enough, they do everything so precisely and have done a fantastic job this year. My driver coach, Matt Shawyer, is the reason I've been as fast as I have and my manager, Andy Meyrick, has looked after everything off-track for me. It's a proper team effort, I'm really happy we've done it.”
