William Taylforth is targeting a challenge for Rookie Cup honours during his first full season in the Ginetta Junior Championship this year with reigning champions HHC Motorsport.
Taylforth, who turns 16 next week, made his car-racing debut with a late entry into the Juniors last season. Joining the grid for the final three rounds with HHC’s ‘Junior Race Car Academy’ outfit, a steady start saw him card five finishes in six races.
“Rockingham was a bit of trial by fire really, we hadn’t had much testing beforehand so it was all fairly new to me. The next round at Silverstone was much better, and got our first top ten, and Brands was mixed, it was okay on the Sunday but ended badly on the Sunday,” Taylforth told The Checkered Flag.
“It was all a really good experience for me though, being around the big BTCC paddocks, competing in very different conditions over the course of the meetings, getting a feel of the grip on a race weekend with all the rubber down on track and everything like that.”
Taylforth followed that up with an entry into the season-ending Winter Series at Snetterton. While his weekend go entirely to plan, with incidents plaguing his trip to Norfolk, the Lancashire-based racer is hoping to translate the promising pace he showed then, and during testing since, into strong performances this season.
“Realistically to begin with we need to just keep up with pace, keep learning and hopefully pick up a few Rookie class podiums,” he added. “I’d hope to be in contention for the Rookie Cup title come the end of the season.”
*The Checkered Flag caught up with Taylforth at yesterday’s annual Ginetta Media Day at Silverstone. The 2014 Ginetta Junior Championship starts over the weekend of 29/30 March at Brands Hatch in Kent.*
