Jamie Chadwick was again in action in the Ginetta Junior championship at Rockingham last weekend. She has now been joined in the championship by a second female driver, Esmee Hawkey.
Esmee is run by BTCC team AMD Tuning.com and the Rockingham weekend represented her car racing debut having graduated from karting.
Jamie got the weekend off to a great start with fourth in practice, Esmee meanwhile was at the back but seeing as this is her first ever car race weekend against drivers who have been racing all year it was to be expected, especially as she completed the fewest laps of any of the driver.
Jamie continued her pace into qualifying taking fifth and fourth on the grid for the two races. Esmee was again last, but her times were getting faster with every lap and she was getting close to moving up the field.
As race one got underway last thing on Saturday, Jamie found herself in a five car battle for the lead and the leading pack gradually pulled away from the rest of the racers. Meanwhile Esmee had made a good start and was keeping out of trouble as she learnt about the car, the track and racing. As the race drew to a close, Jamie found herself racing Dan Zelos for fourth. On the final corner there was a collision between Norris and Caroline which saw both spin out. As everyone went all over the place in avoidance the order was mixed up. Zelos took the win from Mitchell and Kellet. After the podium celebrations Kellet received a 30 second penalty for a jump start promoting Jamie to a well deserved third place.
Esmee had a successful first race herself making up several places and lapping quicker than ever she took a fifteenth and finished her first ever car race.
Sunday’s race was much tougher for Jamie, she was again racing with the front pack but things were a bit tougher this time and by the end Jamie was shuffled down to sixth. Esmee had a consistent race again and managed to finish her second race in sixteenth, again not last and her laptimes were again improved.
It had been a positive weekend for both drivers. Jamie heads to Silverstone in just over two weeks still looking for her first win. Esmee will be hoping to build on her debut and set faster times. She’ll be hoping to move up the field and a top ten could be a realistic target. By Marc Waller
