Will Tregurtha gave HHC Motorsport their fourth Ginetta Junior Championship title at Silverstone last weekend after the teenage racer cinched the title from his year-long rival Stuart Middleton. Elsewhere, Seb Priaulx celebrated his first race win, whilst Dave Wooder was victorious in the other two encounters.
Qualifying took place on a slippery and cold track after a light shower during the previous session. Harry King set the bar after five minutes with a provisional pole time of 1:17.151s, half a second clear of the rest of the field. As the sun came out and the session came to a close, the times began to improve.
It was all about the final lap as the pole position shootout came to a close. Priaulx took his second pole of the season as the track dried, with Wooder lining up alongside. As the racing got underway though, it was the experience of Wooder who saw him snatch the lead off the line, an advantage he retained to the flag.
Wooder’s success could be owed in some part to the incredible fight for second which unfolded behind. Priaulx held the position for a time, but was hassled by championship leader Tregurtha and Lewis Brown who moved into second and third respectively at the halfway point.
Fans were soon treated to an eight (yes, eight) way battle for second. Priaulx managed to get back into the position, where he remained to the flag, but Tregurtha and Brown were pushed down the order by their HHC teammate Fagg, who sliced past the pair to take third, and his second podium of the year.
With Priaulx claiming the Rookie class win, he was joined on the rostrum by Rockingham race winner King and championship newcomer Harry Dyson, whose result was made even more impressive by his turning 14 – and thus old enough to compete – just a few days ago.
In race two, it was Wooder vs. Priaulx off the line, with the pair running side-by-side into Maggots for the first time. Priaulx took the lead momentarily, but was shuffled down the pack by Brown who sneaked up the order after starting fourth.
Wooder dropped to third, but sneaked passed Priaulx at Woodcote to take the lead a lap later. King followed through and moved to second, demoting Priaulx to third. King then swept into the lead before Brown came back at him and launched an attack.
It was a frenetic few laps up front as the race neared it conclusion, with no less than seven cars battling for the lead. King looked like the favourite as Brown came under growing pressure from Priaulx and Perez. However, Wooder took everyone by surprise as he passed four cars on lap eight and swept into the lead ahead of King and Brown.
Wooder was then pushed wide, Brown took the lead before spinning and dropping to 16th leaving the door open for Priaulx to sweep through and take his maiden win. Wooder and King completed the podium following what was an absolutely epic final corner and an awesome photo finish.
Tregurtha lined up second on this grid for the final race of the weekend alongside teammate Fagg. With one hand on the championship, all Tregurtha needed was to finish ahead of Middleton (starting 18th) in order to be crowned champion. As racing got underway, Tregurtha led into Becketts for the first time as Wooder passed King to move to third.
Keeping his momentum, Wooder made his way past Tregurtha to take the lead whilst behind King passed Fagg and Priaulx to move into second. This battle set the tone for much of the race up front as the trio fought for third along with no less than seven other cars – allowing Wooder and Tregurtha to break away up front.
A brief safety car period momentarily halted the action after Greg Johnson went off into the gravel at Copse and needed recovering. A questionably slow restart from Wooder brought the cars back to racing speed on lap nine and this is where Middleton found his groove.
Having struggled all weekend, the former Ginetta Junior Scholar begun powering his way up the order. He climbed from 18th to fifth by the time the race entered its final stages, and although it wasn’t enough to keep his championship hopes alive, the result very much keeps him in second place in the standings.
As the race came to an end, the HHC Motorsport celebrations began as they celebrated their fourth Ginetta Junior Championship victory in five years, having previously ran Charlie Robertson (2012), Harry Woodhead (2013) and Jamie Caroline (2015) to victory.
The championship will draw to a close at Brands Hatch in a fortnight’s time (1/2 October 2016) and it’s all still to play for in the Ginetta Junior Rookie Cup, as Daniel Harper, Seb Perez and Harry King go head-to-head for the year one honours.
