Jamie-Lea Hawleys rocks at Rockingham

Jamie-Lea rounds the Tarzan hairpin photo by Mark HagganJamie-Lea Hawley was at Rockingham for the latest rounds of the Fiesta Junior Championship recently, she let us know how she got on;

Friday practice – as I went out to learn the track we quickly sustained problems with the ABS. Unfortunately due to the collision in the race at Silverstone at the previous round hidden problems arose causing the ABS to come in. I brought the car in to the garage and the team (Specialized Motorsport) jumped straight on my car to try and sort the car out and allow me to get back out on track. The team worked really hard to try get me back out for my session and succeeded allowing me to get a couple more laps under my belt. Saturday practice – my first session of the day was early in the morning. I tried to make sure that I was up to speed with the others but unfortunately I was finding it hard to get the lap times which I needed. I came in after the session and took a look at my data to try and figure out what I needed to do for the next session. Before I went out a few adjustments to the car were made to try and help me with the handling of the car. Another session went by with improvements made but not the greatest of confidence going into qualifying later on in the day. Qualifying – at this point I knew that all I needed was 1 good lap to put me at the front of the grid. I went out and got my tyres up to temperature.

As the car felt ready and I was able to push I just was not able to get that one lap that I needed and came away with a 14th place. I was not pleased with the result as I knew that I could have done better. I looked back on the session and made sure I knew where the improvements needed to be made for race 1 the following day. Race 1 – I lined up 14th on the grid. With determination I went out on to the track looking to gain the places I needed. I sat there , go! I had a good start and made a couple of places up on the upcoming corner. I kept pushing the car but was facing a couple of difficult problems. I was starting to struggle putting the car in specific gears which were key to the circuit. This made thing even harder for me in the race. I kept pushing on and was just looking to not loose any positions and finish the race. I brought the car home in 9th place which was my highest finish so far this season. I came in and gave the feedback to the team ready for race 2. Race 2 – I lined up 9th on the Grid after the hard work of race 1. I sat in my car and went to pull out of the garage. I had no 1st gear and was faced with starting the race in 2nd gear. As we all lined up on the grid the lights went out. I had a good start for starting in second gear and I didn’t let the pack get to far ahead.

I went in to Chapman curve and went down the inside of cars trying to gain my positions back. Unfortunately the back of the car swapped ends on me sending me in to a spin allowing the pack to pull away. As I got back on track I was determined to try and chase the leading pack down, but most of all finish the race and get the points. I did not give up and kept on pushing. as the upcoming laps revealed I started to have problems with the gearbox. Each lap I was loosing gears and having to drive with a limited amount of gears. Eventually all gears were lost and I had to retire from the race. I was gutted about not being able to finish but I took the positives from the weekend and knew that it can only get better from here. I would like to thank everyone who helped me this weekend in Specialised Motorsport. I had a great car underneath me and we were just unfortunate to have the problems we did. I would like to thank Nicholas for all the help and coming on the track walks every night. I would also like to say a massive thank you to Brian for allowing me to race and the support over the weekend reassuring me that I was doing well. I had a great time being part of your first ever track walk and I hope you enjoyed getting close up to the track were all the action happens. Moving on to the next round which will take place at Snetterton with good positive potential and a lot learnt. By Jamie-Lea Hawley

 

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