Total Control Racing boss Lee Brookes has expressed his disappointment after Ginetta Junior Championship starlet Jamie Caroline was excluded from Round 11 at Oulton Park.
Caroline was one of the stars of the weekend in Cheshire as he bounced back from an unfortunate excursion in qualifying that left him sixteenth on the grid for both races.
The 15 year old, who won last time out at Thruxton, sliced his way through the order to fifth halfway through the final lap, before benefitting from an incident ahead at the last corner to snatch a remarkable fourth podium finish of the season.
While unable to reproduce his podium feat in race two, Caroline had once again stormed through the field to finish fifth on the road – however post-race he was excluded from the result and handed four penalty points on his license following contact in the race.
“It’s very disappointing Jamie was taken out of the race two results, we did appeal but they withheld it,” said TCR team principal Lee Brookes. “He’d produced another fantastic drive from lower down the grid, his pace was fantastic again this weekend. His podium in race one was sensational, it could have been two wins if he’d started at the front.”
Caroline’s team-mate Matt Chapman had another positive weekend meanwhile. Lining up twelfth on the grid, the 14 year old battled well in the midfield to take tenth at the finish, a result he repeated in race two thanks to his team-mate’s exclusion, having fought back well after being knocked down to fourteenth early on.
“Matt was consistently strong again, not quite where he was at Thruxton but still some good points for the championship,” added Brookes. “He’s improving his driving all the time and at Croft we’re confident he can be in the top 10 again, hopefully moving up towards the top six.”
