Katie Milner was feeling the most confident that she has all season as she headed to the Kent circuit of Brands hatch for the latest rounds of the BARC Junior Saloon car championship (JSCC).
She had a test session on Friday with her regular driver coach Adriano. Despite these being held in heavy rain, Adriano’s guidance helped her build her confidence still further. He also went through the different lines she would have to take if the weather dried up.
It turned out this would be important information for Katie as Qualifying at Midday on Saturday was dry and sunny. Katie learnt the new dry lines that Adriano had told her about on her first few laps before going for times to get as high up the grid as she could.
She managed to get sixth on the grid for race one with her second best time being good enough for seventh on the grid for race two. Katie was pleased with her results from the session as it was her first ever time on track in the dry.
The races were on Sunday and the weather was back to being wet. With the circuit wet, Drizzle was still falling as Katie and the field headed to the grid for the first race at just after Half twelve. Katie managed a great start and was already up to fourth by the end of the first lap. Things were looking good, could Katie get her first podium? Unfortunately before Katie could make up any further places the safety car was out, scrambled after Brad Hutchinson had an off. The field circulated behind the safety car while the incident was cleared.
Once the race returned to green flag conditions, the field were bunched up. As they headed into paddock Hill bend, Katie had to defend from Charlie Kennedy who made a bid to pass.
The back end of Katie’s car started to slide and this pitched her into the gravel trap. Unfortunately the front of the car dug in the gravel, flipping the car over. What a disaster, Katie had gone from fighting for a podium slot to out in the space of a lap. She was fine and fortunately it seemed the car had suffered only cosmetic damage. Incredibly both the roof and windscreen weren’t damaged with the bonnet and bumper taking most of the crash damage.
Normally a roll would have put Katie out of the rest of the day but with the car structurally sound and the engine still functioning, her team set about fixing it in time for race two at Twenty five past three that afternoon. With all of Katie’s team and one of the mechanic’s from rival Oli Wilmott’s car also helping, the car was soon ready to race in race two. The whole repair job had taken less than two hours, a lot faster than your local garage! Katie hoped she could repay everyone’s efforts with a good result. There was no time to test the car and so Katie’s first experience of it would be driving onto the grid. Things seemed okay as she lined up ready for the start. The race was again wet and Katie once more battled for position, this time staying up the right way.
She took eighth place at the flag, an excellent result considering it looked like she may not race after the race one accident.
Despite the accident, it had been a positive weekend for Katie; she had been fighting for a podium finish in race one before the accident and race two showed that the roll hadn’t knocked her confidence. Once again she had showed that she is progressing up the field in her debut season and it shouldn’t be long before she gets her first podium. Katie was happy at the end of the second race;
“I was really pleased with my race two result especially after my earlier crash. I would like to thank my dad, Jack Wright, Mike Collins and Tom and Josh from Team Willmott for all their help this weekend. Also my sponsors Nimbus motorsport, Torqo, Merlin international and Air supply.”
Katie’s next races will be at Oulton Park in Cheshire in the middle of August. It’s another new circuit but she’ll be hoping to get another good result and to stay on four wheels this time! By Marc Waller
