Ginetta Junior

Top Six Caps Off Tough Weekend For Collins

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Myles Collins ended a frustrating weekend on a high by taking a season's best sixth place finish in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Donington Park. Set up problems throughout the meeting hampered the Westbourne Motorsport driver's progress in qualifying and Round three, before the team overcame them for Round four.

Commenting on qualifying, Myles said: “I really pleased with how qualifying went, seeing as though all weekend  we've been really off the pace and going around in p.15, p.14. We've been struggling on the time and the set-up, even the lines on the track, which is new to me. We've been struggling in all aspects really.

“We noticed in the first practice session today that we were down on speed, I noticed mid corner range when following people. We had Ginetta over to look over the car and they found three or four things up with the engine. We got them sorted for qualifying.

“We were up to p.7, p.6 at the start of qualifying, so to see that on the pit board when we've been travelling much further back, was good. To finish p.11 was a good result.”

The Swissvax and Trading Floor backed driver headed into the weekend's two races aiming to stay out of trouble, finish both and pick up some valuable points for the championship. Race one saw the team continue to struggle with set up, meaning Myles was on able to take a twelfth place finish.  

Myles commented: “The first race wasn't that good. We tried a gamble in the set up for the race and it didn't go to plan. We were sort of fighting with the car to get up and finish as high as we could but it just wasn't happening, which was a shame.”

Race two saw Myles enjoy a much stronger run, as he explains: “We changed the set up for the second race, back to how it was in qualifying. The car felt good and it was the first time the team and everyone has been happy with the car since the start.

“I had a bit of a disastrous start to the race, I started in the middle of the pack and there was carnage again. I think I dropped down to p.15, went through the gravel but got out. Safety car came out, so that gave me a chance to catch up to everyone. Then I just started fighting my way through and worked my way up to p.7. It was a good race and the car was good.”

Myles was later promoted a place after a rival was disqualified due to robust driving, something that was common throughout the weekend. The main talking point coming out of the racing was the amount of incidents on circuit, with Myles admitting contact is proving hard to avoid: “It's very difficult. A lot of people are complaining about the driving standards and it is more like demolition derby than Junior Ginetta's, so it's tough to finish a race without no damage on your car.”

Next up for Yorkshireman Collins is a lengthy trip down south to the fastest circuit in Britain, Thruxton, a weekend he is looking forward to: “Thruxton again is a new circuit to me; it will be the first time I've been there. It should be good now we're getting used to the car and the set up; I think we should be somewhere decent.”

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Simon is an experienced journalist and PR officer, who has worked in the national motorsport paddocks for over a decade, primarily on the BTCC support package.
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