Teen Racer Emily secures 3rd place podium in GT4

Track action (Photo by Matthew Rudd)

Track action (Photo by Matthew Rudd)16 year old racing driver, Emily Linscott, and her teammate, Peter Bassill, secured a battling display to secure a fine 3rd place podium finish in their first ever Britcar Endurance Championship race last weekend.

Linscott, from Langdon Hills, Basildon, took to the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire after a four month layoff because she wanted to concentrate on her GCSE’s, to compete alongside her teammate in two 1 hour endurance races in the Hedgehog Cyber Security backed Ginetta G55 GT4 car.

Linscott proved her class by adapting immediately to the big hike in power over what she’s driven previously by posting some quick times in practice and then posting her personal best in qualifying on race day to secure their team 4th in class on the grid. She said, “I’ve felt very comfortable driving this car. Even though it’s got 355bhp, it’s very planted and pretty stable even on old tyres; I love it!”

The pairing lined up alongside other exotica such as Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche and BMW’s for the 5th round of the Dunlop endurance series and were bathed in perfect weather conditions for the drivers and spectators alike. The start of the race was taken by Peter, who settled in for a solid drive before handing over to his young charge. Peter said, “I’m happy with that, I’ve posted personal best lap times and brought it back in one piece, now it’s Emily’s turn.”

PodiumEmily’s stint was very impressive, posting consistently quick times throughout when her engineer told her she was catching the 3rd place GT3 Porsche at a rate of 3 seconds a lap with a gap of 17seconds it was doable. With just 5 laps to go she’d caught her quarry and slayed them two laps later with a stunning cut-back overtake at the fast turn two, and defended the inside line in to turn three, enabling her to gap her opposition and collect their first podium of the campaign. She said in Parc Ferme, “that was a blast! I’m so pleased with our driving today. The car performed well, the team gave us everything we needed and both Peter and I drove it well, we couldn’t have wished for a better start to our driving partnership.

Peter too was full of praise for how the car performed but said of Emily’s performance, “she drove like a demon on fire today, that’s why I chose her as my teammate.” The pair followed this up with a solid 4th place in race two the same day. The two drivers are now looking forward to the next round at the fast but twisting Snetterton circuit in Norfolk on August 10th.

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