Sennan Fielding bounced back from his opening race disappointment to secure victory in Round Sixteen of the 2012 Ginetta Junior Championship at Rockingham, the result helping him claw back some points from title leader Charlie Robertson.
Robertson started the race from pole, though a slightly sluggish start allowed Fielding to draw alongside. Robertson held the inside heading into Deene to maintain the lead though, while an ambitious move around the outside of them all by Andrew Watson ended with the Irishman spinning.
Fielding slotted into second and was soon hassling the leader. After running nose to tail for a lap, the lead changed into Deene on lap three, with Fielding sliding down the inside to assume the advantage.
Behind, a great opening lap for Niall Murray saw the third title protagonist get up from seventh on the grid into third. The Irishman hoped to chip away at the three second gap to the leaders, but as he struggled with a lack of straight-line speed, he was instead forced to defend from Ollie Chadwick and Pepe Massot behind.
The trio ran nose-to-tail for a few laps before Massot became the first to make a move on lap six, a great run out of the Brook chicane allowing him to get past both of those ahead for third place. Murray regained third at Deene on the final lap, however Massot fought back on the run into the final Brook chicane.
As Fielding crossed the line to take the win, with Robertson close behind in second, contact into the side of Murray by Massot slowed them both up, allowing Chadwick to nip through for third, with Murray a frustrated fourth ahead of Massot.
Harry Woodhead rounded out the top six after a fantastic scrap with Freddie Lee and Oliver Basey-Fisher, those two finishing seventh and eighth respectively. William Palmer finished ninth, with Scot Elliot Paterson rounding out the top ten.
“It was a good result, though overall it’s still a little bit of a disappointing weekend,” said race-winner Fielding. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better in that race. I felt in control, but I just couldn’t quite get enough of a tap to break the tow on the banking.”
“Sennan’s move was a bit robust and I don’t know what’ll happen about that after the race, but second place is a good result for the championship,” added Robertson. “I could have found a move past but I didn’t really feel like I needed to, second place is a good result and Sennan would have been defensive, difficult to overtake and I didn’t want to risk anything.”
Commenting on the decisive overtake, Fielding added: “There’s always a little bit of rubbing in the Ginetta Juniors. Today we both came out still in the top two and miles ahead of everyone else, so there wasn’t a problem with my move.”
2012 Ginetta Junior Championship Standings (After Rd. 16):
1. Charlie Robertson – 432pts
2. Sennan Fielding – 409pts
3. Niall Murray – 405pts
4. Pepe Massot – 297pts
5. Harry Woodhead – 279pts
6. Andrew Watson – 258pts
7. Ollie Chadwick – 257pts
8. Keith Donegan – 218pts
*The photo shows Ginetta grid girl Hannah Robinson with Pepe Massot, Oliver Chadwick, Sennan Fielding, Charlie Robertson and current BTCC driver and reigning Ginetta Supercup champion Adam Morgan*
