Hi everyone, and thanks for taking the time to read my blog.
I am now four rounds into my car racing career, in the highly competitive Ginetta Junior Championship, which runs as part of the support bill for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
As I said in my last blog, this is a big year for me, and it would be naive of me to underestimate the steepness of the learning curve I’m on.
Being the 2013 Ginetta Scholarship winner and the only female racer on the grid, there’s been a lot of extra attention since the beginning of the season. On Thursday we did some more filming for a CBBC documentary about me and the Championship.
It’s all good experience, but my main attention has to be the racing.
My JHR race team and I had a really encouraging start to the weekend at Donington Park. I’d been third quickest in Thursday’s practice sessions and second quickest during Saturday morning’s pre-qualifying practice, just ahead of my older brother and team-mate, Ollie.
I had planned to carry that pace into qualifying, but events conspired against me and, with only the 15 minutes available, I couldn’t put down a satisfactory lap in the time available – I was so disappointed that I had to start seventh in Race 1 and sixth in Race 2.
The actual racing was as very close as always, and I really enjoyed myself out on track, eventually taking the chequered flag in sixth place. I felt I could and should have done better, but for inexplicable reasons I was off the pace.
Sunday’s race around the 1.96-mile circuit wasn’t straight forward for me, however. I stayed out of trouble for the most part and gradually moved up the order to fourth place, whilst those around me faltered.
I thought I dealt with the pressure of fighting in a tightly-bunched field well, but I then had a coming together with Keith Donegan at Redgate corner that sent the both of us into a synchronised spin. I also had a puncture, but managed to limp home for my fourth finish out of four.
While the incident denied me a potential fourth place result, everything I do is part of the learning curve and I am gradually taking those experiences forward to hopefully become a better racer.
I’m now sixth in the championship standings and I’m anticipating a tough weekend at the dauntingly quick Thruxton Circuit in a fortnight’s time. Fortunately I’m lucky to have the support of a brilliant team around me.
