Ginetta Jr: Sarah Moore wins at Thruxton

Sarah Moore secured one of the most popular race victories in the short history of the Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance at Thruxton Circuit - her maiden category success coming with a rapid and very well judged performance.

The Tockwith Motorsport 15-year-old, younger sister of reigning Ginetta G50 Cup Champion Nigel, showed the sort of ability which has seen her older sibling become renowned as one of Britain's most talented racers with an excellent win from sixth on the grid.

Action-packed throughout and with slip-streaming aplenty, the nine lap third round of the season also produced something of a shake-up in terms of the championship table. While series leader Jake Cook maintains his place at the head of the driver standings, his advantage has been reduced to just ten points after a disappointing weekend for the Brands Hatch double race winner.

Jake Hill once again underlined his raw speed with his first pole position start of the season, a dominant 0.5 seconds clear of nearest rival Alex Austin, but come the race some over-exuberance saw a potential win go begging. Even so, the Tollbar driver did well to mount a podium fightback and finished the race in third place, some 3.7 seconds clear of Tom Ingram's career best fourth position.

At the start, pole-sitter Hill got away from the grid well as did Sarah Moore and her younger brother David but the real flyer came from Aaron Williamson who rocketed through from fifth on the grid to take second place at the complex and then the lead on the run through Village and Church corners.

Into lap two, Williamson held the lead from Hill, David and Sarah Moore but the youngest of the siblings then grabbed second position at Church. Heading up Woodham Hill into Club Chicane, Hill mounted an attempt to retake second place on the outside but he ran out of track under braking and slid wide over the kerbs.

Losing ground to the leaders, the pole-sitter slipped back to fourth place and then even further back as his chances of victory looked all but gone. At the front, Williamson looked in control but David Moore had other ideas and produced another good pass at the fastest point of the circuit, Church.

The lead changed hands another couple of times between the pair which allowed Sarah Moore to close in and the trio ran three abreast through Church and into the long climb up the hill on lap four.

Sarah moved ahead at the chicane to demote Williamson to second and David to third place as fourth positioned Austin started to come into play. With nothing at all between the lead quartet, the intensity of the action continued to rise but a huge spin for Williamson at Village ended his challenge and he eventually finished in seventh place.

Into lap six, the Moores were fighting tooth and nail over first place, Sarah emerging with the lead with a terrific pass around the outside through the first corner, Allard. Further behind, the recovering Hill posted the fastest lap of 1m 35.744 seconds (88.58mph) to bag an extra bonus point to add to the one he achieved for pole position.

The fight at the front then witnessed another spin on lap seven, this time for David Moore, and he ended up finishing in sixth place, just behind the impressive Carl Stirling who came through from 10th on the grid for a career best result.
Benefitting from her brother's problems, Sarah held the biggest gap of the race on lap eight to new second placed runner Austin and she maintained the gap on the final tour to take an emotional and richly deserved maiden win. Austin's second place saw him move into the runner-up position in the points table while Sarah Moore's success catapults her from eighth to third in the championship.

"I knew I could do it, I just had to watch out for the people ahead of me going off track because I knew that would happen!" Moore said. "Once the battling had finished and things spread out a bit more, I got up to the two cars in front of me and knew I had a good chance to get through.

"After David (Moore) went off at the far end of the circuit, I just had to keep my cool and make sure I won the race for the team and also my championship points. Even if Alex (Austin) had caught me up on the last lap or two, I knew I had enough of a gap to stay at the front. It's absolutely great to win my first race, I can't believe it!"