Will Tregurtha extended his Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship lead to 36 points at Knockhill this weekend (13/14 August 2016) whilst it was a weekend of firsts as Seb Priaulx celebrated pole position, Seb Perez and Geri Nicosia claimed their first wins, Connor Grady and Tom Wood made their podium debuts and Jordan Collard took his maiden Rookie Win.
It was a pair of Sebs on the front row ahead of the opening race after Priaulx topped qualifying by just 0.053 over his JHR Developments teammate Perez. A perfect start for the latter though saw him sprint into the lead as the lights went out.
Behind, Priaulx did an outstanding job of keeping championship protagonist and second year driver Middleton behind. As always with Juniors, it wasn’t just Middleton who was vying for second place though, as Harper, Tregurtha, Nicosia, Roberts and Wooder all fought for position.
The main action was the fight between Middleton, Harper and Priaulx over for second. Each driver held the place for a time, but it was ultimately Middleton who came out on top of that battle, with Priaulx joining him on the podium.
Out front, Perez’s lead grew with every passing lap, and he brought his Ginetta G40 home to take his first ever win with an impressive 4.5s margin to the chasing pack. There was a real photo finish in the fight for fifth though as Nicosia and Tregurtha enjoyed a drag race to the line, with the latter taking the position by just 0.002.
Race two saw Perez and Middleton start side-by-side following their 1-2 finish in the previous outing. Although they maintained their positions as the race got underway, in their eagerness to get off the line both cars were dubbed to have made false starts and handed drive through penalties, dropping them well down the order.
Up front, his teammate’s misdemeanour handed Harper the race lead, but he instantly came under attack from points leader Tregurtha in second. Priaulx, who dropped down to sixth at the start, had recovered to third by the halfway point and it soon became a three-way fight for the win.
The trio swapped positions lap after lap, but Harper looked to be holding firm until a squabble with Tregurtha dropped him way down the order on the final tour. Harper then made a mistake at the chicane, allowing Priaulx to sweep into the lead, whilst Nicosia followed him through to claim second on the road.
However, after the race there were a number of changes. Priaulx was handed a 30 second time penalty for a false start, dropping him to thirteenth in the amended result. His fellow second row starter Harper was handed an identical penalty for the same infringement, dropping him from third to 15th on corrected times.
That wasn’t all, with regards to Perez, the Judge of Fact report which saw a penalty applied for a false start during the race, was subsequently found to be incorrect.
The amended result saw Nicosia take the victory from Wooder and Wood, with the latter promoted to his maiden overall podium finish in the series. The top six was completed by Tregurtha, Grady and Brown, with the reverse grid draw handing pole position to the sixth place finisher, Brown.
As the lights went out on race three, Brown led into turn one for the first time. However, after two laps and just shy of a two second lead, he was handed a drive through penalty for a false start. With him out of contention, Tregurtha was promoted into the race lead and Grady into second.
Behind, Wood fell behind Nicosia and down to fourth, but as he attempted to get the position back, the Elite Motorsport racer had a spin, taking Middleton and Perez off the track with him. Middleton managed to recover to finish an eventual fourth, in spite of a number of challenges from Wooder and Collard early on, as well as Fagg, Roberts and Harper during the closing laps.
As the flag fell, Tregurtha took a dominant win as Grady made his podium debut. Nicosia rounded out the rostrum, making it two in one weekend, whilst Collard celebrated his first rookie cup win from Harper and Caldwell.
After another strong weekend, Tregurtha has extended his lead to 36 points over Middleton whilst Wooder jumps Brown to take third in the championship. Behind in fifth overall and leading the Rookie Class is Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner Harper.
The focus now shifts to the three-race encounter set for Rockingham Motor Speedway in a fortnights time on 27/28 August.
