Trennon Bettany produced his best performance to-date in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship this past weekend (August 29/30) at Knockhill to clinch a trio of points finishes, the best of which an 11th place finish in race two.
Back in action for the third event of the campaign, the Richardson Racing driver ventured to the picturesque delights of Scotland focused on building on the lessons that had been learnt at Donington Park and Brands Hatch earlier in the month. After producing top ten pace during the practice sessions leading up to the weekend around the undulating 1.27-mile Fife layout, the 16-year-old was left frustrated in qualifying as a lock-up on cold tyres sent him into the gravel at McIntyres and unable to set a lap time. Knowing his lowly starting position was unrepresentative of his overall pace, the South African teenager was confident of making progress across the races. A great drive in the opening encounter saw him make a string of eye-catching overtakes to work his way up to 14th. Things were to get even better for the Azura Retreats-backed racer as he powered his way to 11th in race two. Launching off the line from 19th, Bettany was soon on the move as he made early progress. Following a brief safety car period, Bettany resumed his charge as he continued to scythe his way up the order and capped off what was a brilliant performance with a stunning overtake around the outside of the first corner to finish just shy of the top ten. Rounding his weekend off in race three - which was broadcast live on ITV2 - the Conditioned Environment-sponsored driver once again found himself in the thick of the action as he battled to score a breakthrough top ten finish. Running inside the top ten at one stage, front left damage subsequently dropped him down the order, seeing him cross the line in 14th and complete an otherwise stellar weekend. Trennon Bettany: "I'm really happy with how the weekend went! To come away a best finish of 11th this season and run inside the top ten shows that we're heading in the right direction. "Considering that I wasn't able to get a lap during qualifying I was eager to make amends and I think we did just that. We had great pace all weekend and I felt really confident behind the wheel, and that's only going to continue to grow as the season progresses. "I'm still smiling at some of the overtaking moves I was able to pull too. I've got a great team at Richardson Racing around me and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve at Thruxton in a few weeks' time." The Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship now heads to Thruxton Circuit on September 19/20 for the latest three races of the 2020 season.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.