Reigning champions Hillspeed enjoyed another successful weekend in the Ginetta Junior Championship, with Seb Morris taking his fifth win in six races to increase his lead in the driver standings, while team-mate Struan Moore had his strongest weekend of the season so far.
Pre-event testing saw Morris second quickest, with Moore just 0.7 seconds back in eighth. The duo became even closer in qualifying, with Morris setting the second fastest times for the both races and Moore securing his strongest qualifying of the season to take third for both.
The first race saw Morris take the lead with a superb pass at Church corner on lap one and held the lead throughout the race, looking set to continue his winning streak, before a superb move by rival George Gamble saw him take the win at the final corner, with Morris missing out on the line by 0.036s. Moore suffered a poor start to the race, dropping outside the top ten on the opening lap, before producing a superb drive to fight back to eighth, his best finish of the year.
Morris went one better in Round Six, passing for the lead on lap seven at the Complex and holding onto it to take his fifth win of the season to extend his title lead to 74 points. Moore had a much stronger start to his race, battling with Brad Bailey for fourth, before a mistake at Church saw him run wide, followed by a spin at the final chicane, after which he was collected by a rival, the damage forcing him to retire.
Team Principal Richard Ollerenshaw said: “Seb did a fantastic job this weekend. It's a shame he made a mistake in the first race which cost him the win on the line, he made an error with the gears and that made the difference. In race two though he did everything right.”
“Qualifying was very encouraging for Struan and although he had a bad start in the first race, he was superb after that to come back through into a career best finish. In race two he had a good start and although he did drop a couple of places he displayed his talent with a very fair battle with Brad Bailey. It's just a shame he went off and then had his spin – this weekend his pace has been better than ever and we've really seen what we know he's capable of.”
Championship leader Morris added: “Winning is always the aim and I try my best to do that each time we go out. I made a mistake at the last chicane on Saturday and that cost me the win but I learnt from that and didn't make the same mistake twice today.
“I think I learnt more with the second place finish yesterday than I have all year so far. In a way it was almost good to have that as it makes you realise you're not going to win every race. Thruxton is a circuit that requires a lot of confidence in the car and I had that today, it's been a good weekend.”
