Brea Angliss picked up a sensational top-ten finish as she exceeded all expectations during a brilliant opening weekend of the 2023 Ginetta Junior Championship season at Oulton Park over the Easter bank holiday weekend (08-10 April).
The visit to Oulton Park was only Angliss’ second ever weekend in car-racing following her debut in the Winter Series last November. Reuniting with the Alastair Rushforth Motorsport team, she prepared for the new season with a testing programme in recent weeks.
The 15-year-old rising star completed her preparations with two final days of official testing on the eve of the meeting. Benefitting from some coaching from her brother Blake, a successful Ginetta racer himself, she made consistent improvements across the sessions.
Further progress came in qualifying on Saturday morning, with Angliss posting the 16th fastest time overall for race one that afternoon. It proved to be a busy season opener, however a composed performance saw her stay out of trouble and make some impressive progress.
Taking advantage of the opportunities presented to her, the Coventry based racer worked her way up to 11th on the road at the chequered flag, before a time penalty for a car ahead netted her a fantastic top ten finish in only her fifth Ginetta race.
Angliss, who is racing with the support of Transend UK, Haigh Engineering and Filtered, was greeted by a change of weather conditions as racing resumed on Bank Holiday Monday, with glorious sunshine replaced by damp circuit for race two after overnight rain.
The Coventry-based racer adapted well to the conditions and found herself in the thick of the action, with some good early progress moving her up to 14th. A slight mistake led to a trip across the grass just past mid-distance, but she recovered well and fought back on the final lap to grab 16th place.
Sporadic rain showers through the day meant there was a sense of delving into the unknown for the final race. A chaotic start to the race saw Angliss have to take to the grass at the first corner to avoid spinning cars ahead of her, though she recovered well to 13th position.
Holding position once the action resumed, she kept tabs with the pack ahead and went on the offensive on the final lap. Picking up one place as another driver retired, she then pulled off a brilliant overtaking move into the last corner to secure an 11th place finish.
Brea Angliss: “This weekend was a massive learning curve for me and to come away with P10 and P11 finishes is more than I could have ever hoped for. The racing was as action-packed as you’d expect in the Ginetta Juniors and I really enjoyed getting into the thick of the action.
“I’m pleased to have stayed out of trouble and picked up three clean race finishes. My pace was improving every time I went out on track and I’ve learnt loads, so this is a good platform for us to build on going into the next round and beyond.”
Angliss' debut campaign in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship will continue in four weeks' time (06/07 May) with three races on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.