Max Coates had an eventful weekend during Rounds Thirteen and Fourteen of the 2011 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship at Knockhill in Scotland, with variable weather conditions making the racing nail biting for the Richmond Sixth Form student.
The patron for Yorkshire enjoyed some testing on Tuesday and Friday prior to the meeting, making good progress over the sessions to get some good pace ahead of qualifying. The Coates Garage run-driver was struggling in the final sector during qualifying and this hampered his best laps, leaving him eleventh and twelfth on the grid for the two races, half a second off a top five start.
Race one saw the RGPS sponsored car make a positive start, making a move up the inside of another car at the first corner, but the Scorton teenager ran wide at the next corner falling to fourteenth place. He made good progress through the remainder of the race to finish tenth overall.
The second race, televised live on ITV 4, turned out to be an incident ridden affair, with Max caught up right in the middle of the action. An excellent start saw him moving up the pack and on the inside of a three car scrabble, but he came off worst, spinning off. Aided by a safety car he got back on the rear of the pack but was pushed wide at the restart, before being caught up in the inside of another three car battle and being forced onto the grass. The Harron Homes-backed driver got back on track though and ended up in eighth position, keeping him fifth in the championship.
