Jamie-Lea Hawley was recently at Silverstone for the latest rounds of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior championship. This is her story of how the weekend went.
Friday
Overall Friday was a very promising day to the weekend. With 1 dry session and 1 wet session the car felt great and we were setting very quick lap times. This built huge confidence going into Saturday.
Saturday free practice one
The first practice session went well. The track conditions were dry but air temperature was cooler than previous tracks. We had a good run with the car feeling nearly one hundred percent there. I finished the practice in eighth. I came in from the session and was told that three tenths would put me in third. This shows how tightly packed the field was around the track.
Saturday free practice two
As we left the garages I was fairly confident I only had to find a small amount of time to move up the field. This made me even more determined to try and find that time. As the session progressed I found more time and as just hundredths of a second behind the following line of cars. In the end we came in seventh our best result up to date and just a fraction behind the others.
Saturday qualifying – as we had performed so well in the practice sessions we were fairly confident a high grid place would be achievable. As the qualifying went underway the car felt great underneath me however after the fourth lap, the car seemed to drop off dramatically and I struggled to get a good lap time. I tried to cool the tyres but I just couldn’t drop enough heat out of them quick enough. Therefore, I qualified ninth with my quickest lap being lap three. Although it wasn’t the result I was looking for I knew the race would be close due to the top nine being split under one second.
Sunday race one
I lined ninth on the grid and was confident to move up. As the race was started I had a bad start dropping me down a few places. I quickly made my way back to ninth before the end of lap one. Right in front of me was the five-car battle for fourth. With everyone swapping places corner after corner I knew I had my work cut out for me. As I watched were the cars were likely to get a bad exit I made my move. Making up places but then dropping back down again. The race was a huge learning curve and taught me a lot about race craft. After all the swapping around I came in ninth and just 0.01s behind eighth place. I was fairly happy with the result and we had the pace to be fifth.
Sunday race two
We lined up ninth on the grid for the second time of the day. After another bad start and the car just not releasing nicely I was quickly down in last place. I knew I had to try anything to get my self back up there so at the first corner I put my car round the outside and thankfully made two places back. Moving on to the pack of cars ahead I quickly made ground and was now on the back of them. I sat there and watched what they were doing ad made my move on the following lap. Coming out of the last corner two cars were swapping places so I followed down the inside. Knowing I needed to made ground up fast I kept my foot down right until the last moment and took two cars in one corner. I was now chasing down the cars in front and working extremely hard inside the car. As we approached the last corner and entered the straight a huge crash involving the cars Olly turner and Gus Burton had collided with each other and then rolling the cars. Thankfully both drivers managed to walk away without any serious injury. Due to the accident, the race was unfortunately stopped nine minutes in leaving me in eighth with a lap time quick enough for fourth.
Overall the results were my best yet however the potential to be much higher was definitely there. I would like to say a massive thank you to specialized motorsport for a super car all weekend as usual. Simon for the help and advice on how to find those extra few tenths. My teammates for the continued support and cheering on the pit wall. Brian for allowing me to be there and giving me everything I need. For giving me the confidence and belief that I can do it and even the cheering on the pit wall as I go past. My mum and dad for the support and getting me to the track as always. I had a great weekend and even had a nice team meal at the end of the day to top it all off.
On to croft for my closest track of the year where I am looking for a high place finish and a step on the podium!
