It was a milestone penultimate round of the 2016 Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship season at Silverstone last weekend, and we’ve crunched the numbers to find the key statistics and landmarks from the meeting.
The headline story from the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ was Will Tregurtha securing the 2016 title with two races to spare, in the process becoming the twelfth different champion in series history.
Tregurtha’s success means HHC Motorsport have now won four of the last five drivers titles, following Charlie Robertson (2012), Harry Woodhead (2013) and Jamie Caroline (2015).
The key to Tregurtha winning the crown a weekend early was him continuing his remarkably consistent campaign, having finished in the top five in all races bar one this year.
Tregurtha sealed the title with a second place finish in race three, which means he now edges title rival Stuart Middleton by thirteen podiums to twelve – though they remain tied on six wins apiece.
Middleton’s championship hopes ended after he endured his worst qualifying result, ninth, and lowest race finishes, 11th and 18th, of the campaign at Silverstone.
He gave his all in the final race of the weekend though as he tried to keep his hopes alive, with his climb from 18th to 5th being the joint second most positions gained in a single race this year.
While Tregurtha took the title, the star performer at Silverstone was Dave Wooder – two wins and a second place finish earning him the biggest points haul of any driver so far this season.
In fact, since the triple-header meetings were introduced this year, his 100 point haul is the biggest in championship history – the next best being Daniel Harper (91) at Donington Park.
The Total Control Racing star also broke new ground by leading laps in all three races across the weekend, a feat that no-one else has achieved during a triple-header meeting this year.
Wooder Was In Mightily Impressive Form At Silverstone – Dave Wooder – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Wooder only narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of wins as well, with Seb Priaulx denying him by just 0.104s in race two – the smallest winning margin of the year.
Priaulx’s victory was officially his first in the championship, having won on-the-road at Knockhill before being penalised post-race, and makes him the ninth different winner this season.
That means the 2016 season has comfortably produced more different winners than any other year in championship history, the previous high being six in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
Priaulx and Harry King both secured podium doubles to increase their tallies to six and four overall rostrums respectively this year – though Harper remains the leading Rookie with seven.
Anthony Ayres (13th) and Jenson Dineen (15th) joined Priaulx in achieving career-best race results at Silverstone, while Charlie Digby (15th) was the only driver to improve on their previous best qualifying position.
Seb Perez meanwhile posted his first ever fastest race lap in the second encounter, becoming the eighth different driver to do so this season.
Harry Dyson enjoyed an impressive debut as he secured a Rookie Cup podium in his first race – matching the feat his new JHR team-mate Olli Caldwell achieved back at Croft.
Dyson’s debut means 28 different drivers have now competed in the championship this season – though only thirteen have contested every race meeting.
The competitiveness at the front of the field was highlighted at Silverstone meanwhile by all three winning margins being less than 0.3 seconds, the first time this year all races in a weekend have been that close.
The second race of the weekend also featured four different drivers leading laps, only the second time that’s happened this season following race two at Knockhill.
The 2016 Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship comes to a close next weekend (1/2 October) with the final two races around the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent.
