Despite battling through a number of technical issues during the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship event at Snetterton, it was a productive weekend for Morgan Kidd, who displayed her fighting spirit in light of adversity. By ending the event with a significant step forward in performance in race three after an engine change, Kidd will be aiming to carry this forward at Oulton Park.
Morgan Kidd fought through adversity in the latest round of the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship at Snetterton. Battling a number of technical issues during the event, Kidd finished all three races inside the top-10 of the Pro class to earn valuable championship points. Following a late night engine change, Morgan ended the event on a high by setting her fastest lap of the weekend in race three to give cause for optimism ahead of the next event at Oulton Park.
After stepping up to the Pro class of the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship, Morgan experienced a challenging opening weekend at Brands Hatch. A combination of contact and technical issues limited her progress, however she banked vital points for the championship and had previously shown excellent speed at Snetterton. Therefore, this weekend would be the perfect opportunity to make her mark on the top class of the championship and begin to challenge the leading drivers.
The first competitive session of the event was qualifying on Saturday morning, with Kidd aiming to start her weekend off positively. With just fifteen-minutes to set a fast time, laps were limited in qualifying and Morgan fought a broken drive shaft during the session. Her fastest lap of a 2:14.397 placed her 18th in the overall classification, 10th in the Pro class but with good potential to move forward in the three races to come.
Morgan began race one well and gained one position on the opening lap and start to close in on her Pro class rivals. In light of the limited running in qualifying, she was aiming to settle into her rhythm and move forward but a further power issues saw her fall to the rear of the field on lap two. Without a safety car intervention, the race would now be an extended test session to gain valuable knowledge for the two races to follow.
On lap four, Kidd was able to move ahead of Henry Howarth and then set her fastest lap of the meeting to date. This was a welcome positive from what was a challenging start to the second round of the championship. As the race progressed, Morgan continued to set consistent lap times and this saw her gain three further positions in the overall classification. An overtake on Matt Chambers on lap nine moved her to 17th position, with the retirement of Luke Warr on the final lap seeing Kidd earn points for ninth in the Pro class.
Race two of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with grid positions based on the results from race one. Therefore, Morgan would line up 16th overall, ninth among the Pro class runners. It was a good initial start for Kidd as she gained two positions, however a red flag led to a full restart. Another clean start saw Kidd move inside the top-15 overall, before losing out to Charlie Ellis on lap three.
Despite the challenges faced by Morgan during the event to date, she kept working hard to search for improvements. After moving ahead of Am class racer Daniel Lewis, Kidd closed the race in encouraging fashion by setting her personal best time of the race. Taking the checkered flag in 15th position, tenth in the Pro class, more valuable points were banked at Snetterton.
Grid positions for the final race of the weekend were set by race two results, with a partial reversal at the front of the field. Kidd lined up 15th overall, tenth in the Pro class, after an engine change overnight which aimed to fix the power issues she had been dealing with throughout the previous contests.
Losing one overall position on the first lap, the safety car was then brought out for the stopped car of Charlie Ellis. As racing got back underway, Kidd showed improved performance and set her fastest time of the weekend by almost a second on lap five. It was a consistent end to race three of the event with Morgan taking the checkered 15th overall, tenth in the Pro class.
"Snapped drive shaft in quali had me on the back foot from the start", Kidd explained. "Followed by the rest of the meeting chasing power issues. A late night engine change solved the power problems but left us with handling issues in race 3", she continued.
"All round not the weekend I wanted at home but we are a set closer to being back on top form."
Despite not achieving the ultimate results at Snetterton, it was a productive weekend for Morgan who displayed her fighting spirit in light of adversity. By ending the event with a significant step forward in performance in race three, Kidd will be aiming to carry this forward and push towards the top-5 when the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship returns at Oulton Park on Saturday 8th June.
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