After a great start to life in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championships at Oulton Park, Holly and the team were looking forward to rounds 4, 5 and 6 at the iconic British Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone.
The challenging wet conditions experienced at Oulton Park in the preceding rounds couldn’t of prepared Holly for the extreme conditions in the opening race at Silverstone. Incredibly, Holly managed to get round safely and error free, showing real skill to finish a very creditable 13th, after starting 19th on the grid. It came as no surprise that the GB4 race following the Juniors was cancelled.
With drier weather on Sunday, Holly and her Fox Motorsport team mate, Harry Moss, started with high hopes. However, both driver’s races were curtailed when they were involved in a multi-car crash at the infamous Becketts corner. Neither driver was to blame, with Holly very nearly keeping her clean sheet in avoiding accidents.
After all the drama of the first two rounds at Silverstone, Holly managed 18th in the final round on Sunday. Positively, Holly continued to improve her speed across the event and has gained further valuable experience in this very competitive class.
“The conditions on Saturday were almost un-driveable. The grip wasn’t actually that bad, but I couldn’t see anything so I had to drop right back – even behind the safety car – to try and pick out the corners. I even had to lean forward and try to wipe the windscreen clean at one point. To only get about three quarters of a lap of full green-flag conditions too … Race Two was obviously disappointing. I dodged two spun cars but didn’t manage to avoid Harry and had to stop with the damage, but Race Three was okay. I probably drove a bit too cautiously, being keen not to have another DNF, but we got a result out of it. I have a test at Donington later this week so we should be ready for the races.”
Holly, post racing at Silverstone
Summarising the weekend’s racing for the Fox Motorsport team, Paul McNeilly, Team Principal, said
“It’s been a tough weekend for everyone, what with losing a GB4 race to the weather on Saturday and then with the Ginetta Junior incident – in which both Harry and Holly were blameless – on Sunday morning. I’m not especially happy with the driving standards in GB4. Liam’s been pushed off the track several times on the first lap and Sid’s lost a podium at the very least because another driver simply wasn’t looking. It’s a shame because we were fastest GB4 testing on Thursday and Friday and the Ginetta Junior drivers had closed the gap to the leaders by a huge amount. Donington, hopefully, will be a far less chaotic event.”
Paul McNeilly, Team Principal
We look forward to the next rounds and better weather at Donnington Park at the end of the month.