Aimee Watts continued her excellent start to the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 Supercup Championship by claiming three fastest laps as well as a hat-trick of victories at Snetterton, thus establishing herself as the early season championship leader in the club class.
Aimee Watts continued her excellent start to the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 Supercup Championship by claiming all three victories in the club class at Snetterton. After qualifying second, Watts displayed phenomenal race pace to claim victory in race one by over twenty seconds. Coming from behind to claim victory in races two and three, Aimee displayed her race craft while claiming fastest lap in all three races.
Aiming to build on the momentum from the season-opener at Silverstone, Watts was targeting a return to the club class podium. One victory and two further trips to the rostrum in mixed conditions gave her good cause for optimism ahead of the triple-header at Snetterton. The circuit proved to be challenging for Watts last season, with a best result of sixth place in class, therefore starting the weekend on the front foot would be a welcome bonus.
Conditions were good for qualifying on Saturday morning with Aimee remaining on track throughout the twenty-minute session. It was a productive session for Watts who consistently improved her lap times, ending the session second among the club class drivers. Making a step of over one second compared to qualifying at Snetterton last year, this underlined her development as she gains more seat time in the Mazda MX-5.
Lining up on the grid second in class, Watts made a fantastic start to the opening race of the weekend and immediately took the lead, while moving from 20th to 18th in the overall classification. Matching her fastest time from qualifying on lap two, Aimee gained two further positions and put the car of George Grant between herself and her nearest club class rival. After moving into the top-15 on lap three, Watts continued to improve on her fastest lap with her lead growing to almost ten seconds at the halfway stage.
Watts was competing well against experienced pro class drivers, including multiple race-winner James Cossins, and her speed was underlined further with another significant lap time improvement on lap six. Her time of a 2:15.553 Was almost two seconds faster than her qualifying effort and was 1.5 seconds faster than any other club class driver.
Continuing to extend her margin in the closing stages, Watts claimed a dominant class victory by over 20 seconds, while securing a top-15 result overall. Arguably, this was Aimee’s best career race to date which set her up for a strong finish to the weekend on Sunday.
Starting from pole position in class based on the driver’s second fastest times from qualifying, it was a challenging start to race two for Aimee. Dropping three places to 22nd overall, fourth in class, Watts would need to use her race craft to regain the lost positions. A brilliant second lap of the race saw Aimee gain four overall positions, moving into second in the club class behind race leader Jim Barratt.
By the end of lap three, Watts was already back in the class lead and began extending her gap over new second place driver Wilbur Tiley. Setting her personal best time on lap seven, Aimee was once again in control of the race and a consistent end to the contest saw her claim victory by almost five seconds. Finishing 16th overall, it was another excellent race for Watts who would line up on the eighth row of the grid for the final race at Snetterton.
With grid positions for race three based on the finishing positions from race two, Aimee would line up on pole position in the club class. Watts would need to fight back from adversity once again after slipping to third in class, with Wilbur Tiley assuming the class lead after gaining six spots on lap one. After passing Martin Tolley on lap two, Watts was right behind her class rivals and began to mount her challenge.
The third lap of the race saw Tiley run into an issue which promoted Watts to second, with Aimee hunting the weekend sweep. Cutting the gap to just three tenths of a second behind class leader Ollie Hall, she was within reach of her rival. Nonetheless, the overtake was not set to be straightforward, with Tolley putting himself between the club class competitors.
On lap six, Aimee made a decisive move to clear both Tolley and Hall to claim the race lead. Withstanding late-race pressure from Hall, Watts took the checkered flag to secure her third victory of the weekend.
It was an excellent event at Snetterton for Watts who also finished 11th overall in race three, her best result to date. Claiming all three fastest laps in class, together with a hat-trick of victories, Aimee has established herself as the early season championship leader in the club class.
She will be aiming to carry this momentum into the next round of the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 Supercup Championship which takes place at Oulton Park on Saturday 25th May.