Ollie Chadwick bounced back from a mechanical failure to secure a well-earned second place in the latest rounds of the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship at Thruxton, while his sister Jamie Chadwick had a weekend to forget.
For championship contender Chadwick, a frustrating qualifying session saw him only able to pick up a pair of third places. The opening race saw the JHR Developments driver drop to eighth early on as he avoided a spinning car in front, but a great drive through the field saw him in the battle for third on the final lap.
Unfortunately though, a loss in engine performance due to an electrical issue meant he had to coast to the line, finishing eleventh at the flag. Fixed for the second race, Ollie was able to grab the race lead early on, before slipping to second behind championship leader Harry Woodhead, following him home to the finish.
“I cannot begin to tell you how upset I was when my car died on the last lap of race one,” said Ollie. “I’ve had some bad luck and made a couple of mistakes this season, but I see myself as a championship contender and it was heart breaking to fall back down the field.
“This put me under pressure to recover points in race two and it was certainly tight and exciting up front. Overall, again it was not a great weekend, but I still feel confident as the season progresses.”
For younger sister Jamie, the weekend was certainly a huge learning experience, with a misjudgement at Church during qualifying ‘flat-spotting’ all four of her tyres, seriously compromising her in the races.
Despite this, a great fight through the field saw her rise from eleventh to seventh early on in race one, however contact with a rival, who was re-joining the circuit after a spin, ended her race with steering, suspension and bodywork damage.
In her repaired car, another competent midfield performance saw Jamie in the fight for eighth place before slight contact with a rival pirouetted her into a spin, leaving her finishing at the tail of the field.
“The weekend started badly in qualifying and just continued to get worse,” added a dejected Jamie. “Qualifying badly put me in a difficult position, as I had to try to recover places. And while I felt I was driving well under the circumstances, the two incidents ruined my day.”
“What’s really annoying is the poor finishes and ten-point penalty I received for using a new set of tyres has dropped me seven places in the championship standings to 13th, so I’ve got a lot of work to do in the forthcoming rounds to get back to where I need to be.”
