The fourth meeting of the season for the Kick-Start energy Ginetta Junior championship supported the British Touring car championship at Oulton Park last weekend.
Sophia Floersch and Esmee Hawkey headed to the Cheshire circuit after very differing fortunes at the previous rounds held at Thruxton in Hampshire. Floersch had a nearly perfect weekend winning both races at the same time causing a huge media sensation at her talent with the Thruxton races being only her 5th and 6th car races ever. Hawkey had almost the opposite time at Thruxton with a finish down the field in the first race after being hit and a retirement in race two. But now it was Oulton Park and a fresh start, so time to see how they could both go. Floersch qualified an excellent third for race one (Plus the Rookie pole) and Hawkey had a more positive session two qualifying in fourteenth, sixth in the rookie class.
Floersch sadly didn’t make as good a start as at Thruxton when race 1 got under way and dropped two places to fifth. She then battled with the leading pack, moving up and down the order. She briefly moved up to third before rival Senna Proctor demoted her back down to fourth where she finished but she once again took a rookie class victory. Hawkey had a steady race but stayed in fourteenth despite being faster than her rival ahead. Oulton Parkis a tough circuit to pass on and despite Hawkey’s quicker pace she wasn’t able to find a way past. Still fourteenth and sixth in the Rookie class was a much better start than she’d had at Thruxton.
So with the grid for race two decided on the finishing order of race one, Floersch found herself in fourth on the grid with Hawkey again in fourteenth. Floersch’s car had a new gearbox fitted overnight as she’d had slight problems in the race so she had a cautious start to race two while she checked all was working as it should. She dropped to fifth on the first lap but as she started lap two she was back behind the top three once more. She was much faster than the group she was chasing and started to hunt them down. Unfortunately her charge was halted by the scrambling of the safety car due to an accident. This at least allowed her to fully close up but this proved to be a false hope. It was decided that the incident would take two long to clear up and the race was red flagged. Floersch again took the rookie win as well as the fourth place.
Behind Floersch, Hawkey had been having a strong race until she was involved in a run in with another car, she eventually ended up fourteenth once again and eighth in the rookie class.
Floersch was happy with her weekend;
“After Thruxton this was my best result with 2 4th places. I’ve been first place in the rookie rankings on both race days as well in the rookie championship. I’m still in 4th place in the overall standings. And best of all: I know I can do it much better!”
Both drivers now head to Croft in North Yorkshire at the end of June. By Marc Waller
