Challenging weekend for Jasmine Shaw at Donington Park

Jasmine Shaw experienced a frustrating weekend in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship at Donington Park, but her speed throughout the weekend was promising as she qualified in the top half of the field among a record grid of drivers.

Photo credits: William St James | @stjamesracing

Jasmine Shaw experienced a frustrating weekend in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship at Donington Park, with a best result of ninth in the MK7 class. Shaw’s speed throughout the weekend was promising as she qualified in the top half of the field among a record grid of drivers.

After race one was abandoned following two red flags, challenging conditions led to misfortune in race two with Jasmine starting from the pit lane which halted her progress.

Coming off her best showing of the season at Silverstone where her one-lap pace was particularly strong, Jasmine was aiming to carry this momentum into Donington Park.

A record grid of 26 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship drivers would be fighting for top honours and with ten drivers in the MK7 class, margins would be close. After a productive test day on Friday, Shaw took part in Saturday morning’s practice session with the 20Ten Racing driver completing ten laps and setting the 15th fastest time, seventh among the MK7 class drivers.

Qualifying would give Jasmine a chance to improve on her strong start to the weekend and aim to move forward in the MK7 class. In a session interrupted by a red flag, Shaw found significant improvement from the morning’s practice session despite extremely high track temperatures and a technical issue that limited her flying laps.

The 20Ten Racing driver set the 12th fastest time overall to set the grid for race one, while qualifying 11th for race two. These times ensured she matched her practice result of seventh in the MK7 class, showing especially strong speed in the first sector.

Aiming to secure her best result of the season, Jasmine’s initial start in race one saw her lose a few positions, however with a red flag bringing the race to a halt, she would get another chance to start from her original grid position. It was a much better start for Shaw in the restarted race, however a second red flag was quickly displayed. Luckily, all drivers involved in both incidents were uninjured, but the delays led to race one being abandoned which was a disappointment for the young racers.

Jasmine was optimistic of a strong finish heading into race two, with rain prior to the start leading to difficult decisions surrounding tyre choice and setup. Misfortune then struck the 20Ten Racing driver as she started the race from the pit lane and fell a lap down to the leading drivers. Despite this setback, Jasmine’s pace was particularly strong and she remained in touch with drivers racing inside the top-10 despite being a lap in arrears. Setting a personal best time to close out the race, Shaw crossed the line 21st overall, ninth in the MK7 class to end a character building weekend at Donington Park.

"Qualifying top 10 over 26 cars was another great result", Jasmin told us. "Unfortunately the race couldn’t reflect the pace we had. After having to pit and rejoin a lap down, we managed to unlap and gap podium finishers, showing just how quick we would have been."

Jasmine is continuing to make great progress despite the setbacks, with her one-lap pace being a particular cause for optimism. Her speed in challenging conditions in race two highlighted the potential which she had, with the 20Ten Racing driver being unfortunate not to fight for leading positions within the MK7 class.

"I’m still happy to continue gaining experience and we’ve shown we have the pace for the front, all focus now on Brands Hatch" - she continued.

Shaw will be aiming to end the season on a high when the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship season reaches a conclusion at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 21st/22nd October.