“Completely unacceptable”
That’s how Richard Ollerenshaw, of defending champions Hillspeed, has described the driving standards of the competitors in this seasons Ginetta Junior Championship.
The first two rounds at Brands Hatch and Donington Park has seen a series of incidents in the popular junior series, competed in by drivers between the ages of 14 and 17. A bruising weekend at Donington saw many drivers caught up in accidents that weren’t their fault, with Hillspeed’s Struan Moore one of the unlucky competitors.
Ollerenshaw has spoken out at the level of driving by the youngsters in the series, with he believes has decreased since his outfit joined in 2009. He is now hoping for more measures to clamp down on the perpetrators.
He said: “Some drivers are completely out of control at the moment and that's not portraying the championship as it should be. Ginetta Junior is a fantastic series but the standards so far this year at Brands Hatch and Donington have been appalling. My belief is that there's a certain amount of pressure on the young drivers to race in a certain manner and that's not right.”
“Drivers are leaning on others like they see in touring cars and blatantly running people off the road which is bad sportsmanship and extremely dangerous. I'd like to see much harsher penalties being dished out for those who aren't driving and racing in an appropriate manner.”
“We know Ginetta is working hard to try and eradicate bad driving and to penalise those drivers who continually push the fringes of what's acceptable and those who simply go completely over the top. Hillspeed wholeheartedly supports any such moves and I hope by drawing more attention to this we'll get the championship back to the fantastic series it truly is.”
