Rowan Vincent enjoyed the best weekend of his Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship season to date at Silverstone this past weekend (26/27 September), scoring his highest points tally of the year with a trio of hard-fought finishes. The second set of back-to-back race weekends this season saw Vincent follow up his encouraging visit to Thruxton with a trip to the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’, tackling Silverstone’s short and fast National layout in his Richardson Racing prepared Ginetta G40. After getting some running in both dry and wet conditions during a test day on Thursday, the Woking based racer made some great progress across the two official free practice sessions the following day and headed into the weekend in a confident mood. Qualifying didn’t entirely go to plan for him on Saturday morning though. The 15 year old was unable to get a good slipstream down Silverstone’s long straights on his fastest laps, but although he was a lower than hoped 17th on the timesheets he knew he could race well from there. The opening race that afternoon proved to be one of the most action packed of the season so far. In a full of incident and drama, a composed performance from Vincent saw him stay out of trouble and work his way through to 13th place at the chequered flag. Race two on Sunday morning was another chaotic affair, with multi-car incidents leading to a couple of red flag stoppages. Fortunately the Concreate, V4 Woodflooring and CPP backed racer was once again able to avoid any issues of his own and come home in 12th position. That matched his best result of the season to date, but sadly his hopes for more in race three were hampered by a brake issue. With his car locking up at almost every corner, Vincent was powerless to prevent himself slipping down to 17th by the chequered flag. Rowan Vincent: “While the last race was frustrating, it doesn’t take anything away from what has been a really positive weekend overall. The Silverstone circuit produces some epic racing with the slipstreaming on the long straights and it was great fun to be right in the thick of the action. “Fortunately while a number of other drivers were making contact and getting caught up in some big incidents, I was able to keep myself out of trouble, avoid any damage and bring the car home for three more point finishes. “That’s the most important thing for me as I continue my first season in racing, as every lap I complete teaches me more about this car and racing in general. We’ve got lots of positives to take away from this weekend again and I’m gaining confidence each time out.” The 2020 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship now takes a weekend off before heading to Croft in North Yorkshire for two more races (10/11 October).
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.