Class winning debut for Sarah Moore

Sarah Moore (Photo by Marc Waller)

Sarah Moore (Photo by Marc Waller)Sarah Moore didn’t let her relative inexperience hold her back as she claimed a class victory and two top ten finishes on her MINI Challenge JCW debut.

Racing on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, Sarah’s first time round the Grand Prix loop in the AReeve Motorsport Mini was in qualifying, which was held in near-monsoon conditions.

A red flag, and a spell run under the safety car didn’t knock Sarah off her stride and on her final lap she set the best middle sector of anyone on track to claim fourth place for race one – only 0.4s off pole.

The first race on Sunday lunch-time was held in completely different conditions as the circuit was bathed in sunshine. Making a great start from the outside of the second row, Sarah held her own as championship front-runners squabbled around her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have much time to make up places on the opening lap as a multi-car collision meant the red flag was put out and the race was stopped after half-a-lap.

Sarah made a lightning restart to claim third on the run into Paddock Hill Bend and she looked certain to claim an overall podium but she was just pipped by championship leader Brett Smith. However, she still claimed victory in the Rookie class as well as setting one of the fastest laps of the race.

Sitting on pole for the reverse grid race two, Sarah made yet another good start. But on the Grand Prix loop a few cars behind squeezed in front, and with one spinning in front Sarah had to take avoiding action. The consequence of Sarah’s avoiding action was that she slipped to fifth.

Sarah Moore (Photo by Marc Waller)Running fifth for a good chunk of the race, a good move from fellow Rookie class competitor Luke Caudle demoted Sarah to sixth. However, a great defensive drive to keep JCW pace-setter Henry Neal behind her meant she finished a superb sixth in the evening race.

Sarah said: “Overall the weekend exceeded my expectations, I’d watched quite a few races from this season before I got to Brands Hatch and I knew it was going to be a very competitive weekend. I was confident in the car straight away and thankfully I like racing in the wet so I knew I could get a good result in qualifying.

“The races were both great, but I was cautious that as a guest entry I didn’t want to get in the way of drivers battling for the championship so I maybe didn’t push them as hard as I could have. However, two top ten finishes and a class victory is more than I could have asked for.

“I want to thank everyone at AReeve Motorsport, they made me feel at home straight away and it was great to work with them and learn more about the car’s set-up from their mechanics. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to race with them again.”

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