Trennon Bettany saw top ten pace go cruelly unrewarded as luck eluded him in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship at Snetterton this past weekend (October 24/25). Returning to action after electing to sit out the previous round at Croft, the Richardson Racing driver was left with three results that arguably didn’t reflect his ever-improving performances. Having last been behind the wheel on the way to a maiden top ten finish at Silverstone last month, the South African teenager got to grips with the challenging 2.97-mile Norfolk venue across Friday’s two practice sessions, showing impressive pace amidst challenging conditions. Bettany carried his noteworthy speed into Saturday where he went on to clinch his best qualifying of the season. Setting a time of 2:22.619 late in the session, Bettany secured tenth place - the highest starting position of his maiden campaign so far. Lining up on the fifth row of the grid for race one, the Azura Retreats-backed racer wasted no time in moving forward as he surged into sixth come the end of the opening tour. In the thick of the action, Bettany ran comfortably inside top ten until disaster struck in the latter stages. On course for his best finish to-date, the 16-year-old received contact at the rear of his car from a rival, spinning him down the order and ultimately was left to cross the line in 17th. Aiming to bounce back in race two starting from 16th, Bettany showcased his overtaking prowess as he once again moved forward. As soon as the lights went out the Conditioned Environment-sponsored driver was on the charge, scything his way into 12th by the end of the first lap. Making up two more places on the second tour, Bettany remained on the back of the top ten for a majority of the race before dropping back to 12th in the final few laps. Bringing his weekend to a close live on ITV4 on Sunday, Bettany endured further frustration as he delivered a hard-fought drive to clinch 13th. Unfortunately, a post-race penalty for contact was handed to the youngster and he was subsequently pushed back to 20th. Trennon Bettany: “It has been a frustrating weekend because the pace we demonstrated in qualifying and arguably all three races hasn’t been reflected in the results. “After claiming my best qualifying of the season we were in a great position in race one but I got hit from behind and that sent me spinning down the order. That pretty much dictated the rest of the weekend as we were always going to have to fight back. “We’ve got one more weekend to come now at Brands Hatch so the aim is to go there and see if we can end the year on a high and beat my best result of the season, which is tenth." Bettany will close out his maiden season of car racing in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on November 14/15.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.