Daniella Sutton wraps-up BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship season at Brands Hatch

A consistent performer throughout the campaign with 12 top-10 finishes, Daniella Sutton completed her season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship by securing eighth-place in the overall championship standings, after clean drives to bank vital championship points in her final races in the series at Brands Hatch.

Photo credits: James Roberts Photography

Daniella Sutton completed her season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship by securing eighth- place in the overall championship standings. Sutton was a consistent performer throughout the campaign as she finished in the top-10 on 12 occasions. In the Brands Hatch season finale, Sutton overcame challenges as she secured a best result of 16th , nonetheless her clean driving ensured she banked vital championship points in her final races in the series.

Sutton arrived at Brands Hatch looking to close out her BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship career on a high. After being awarded the prestigious scholarship ahead of her rookie season, Sutton has taken a significant step forward in her second year in the series. Finishing inside the top-10 in over half of the races in 2025, Daniella entered the final round in seventh position in the overall championship standings with her consistency being particularly impressive.

Although it has been a more challenging second half of the season for Sutton, she has fought hard to overcome adversity and Daniella was now looking to draw upon her experience to end the campaign on a positive note. Sutton raced at Brands Hatch last season and returning to the circuit for the second time in her career was to prove valuable.

After productive running in the scheduled test sessions leading up to the weekend, Sutton and her fellow BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship drivers took part in qualifying early on Saturday morning. Track temperatures were low and therefore generating heat in the tyres was important for the fifteen-minute session. Prior to any flying laps being completed, the session was red flagged with a little over 12 minutes remaining on the clock.

When the session resumed, Sutton quickly jumped inside the overall top-10 as she worked with her teammates to set a fast qualifying lap. Daniella was extremely consistent and regularly set lap times within one tenth of a second of her best, despite battling a traction control issue. At the end of the session, Sutton’s fastest time of a 58.003 placed her in 17 th position, however she was just over half a second away from the top-6 to underline the competitive nature of the series.

Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with a change of conditions at Brands Hatch. Rain prior to the race had made the track damp and although there was no spray, track conditions were slippery and setup choices were difficult. Starting from 17th on the grid, Daniella made an excellent start and immediately gained three places to move up to 14th place at the end of lap one.

On lap two, Sutton overtook Harry Lindley while Harry Russell moved ahead as the Race Car Consultants driver remained in 14th spot. As the race settled into a rhythm, the tyre and setup choices of the drivers were playing their part as positions started to change hands. After initially matching the lap times of Russell ahead, Sutton started to come under attack from the group a drivers behind.

On lap six, Sutton was passed by Callie Clifford, Max Fenton and Aaron Beattie and this lost Daniella some momentum. Sutton had also picked up some front-right damage following a move from one of her rivals and this restricted her potential for the remainder of the race. However, Sutton responded with a personal best time before Neil Hampson, who was showing excellent speed at this part of the race, moved his BPC Motorsport machine ahead. Two laps later, Kacper Tomalewski also found a way past before Tomalewski went on to set the overall fastest lap of the race.

Sutton again showed good determination as she set a new fastest time on lap 11, before she began a fantastic battle with teammate Beattie. As the drivers ended lap 12, they ran side-by-side with Beattie pulling clear despite the margin between the two racers rarely exceeding a quarter of a second. Sutton mounted one final challenge on the last lap of the fifteen-minute race and the two Race Car Consultants machines crossed the line in a photo-finish. Beattie had just held his position when the times were confirmed and therefore Sutton ended the first race at Brands Hatch in 19th position.

Photo credits: James Roberts Photography

The season finale took place on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results from race one, Sutton started from 19th on the grid. Conditions were dry, however there was a significant amount of cement dust on the circuit following an incident in an earlier Historic Formula Ford race. As the lights went out, Sutton made a clean start and she did a superb job to avoid a number of incidents ahead of her throughout lap one.

Driving smartly, Daniella gained two positions to move into 17th before she again had to be on her toes on lap two. At Paddock Hill Bend, Neil Hampson spun and after his car was stranded in the middle of the circuit, the young racers did a nice job to avoid the BPC Motorsport machine. Just behind, Ethan Brass spun into the gravel trap and as a result, the safety car was deployed to retrieve his stricken car.

Under the safety car, Sutton ran in 16th position following Hampson’s spin with the race resuming with eight minutes remaining on the clock. It was a clean restart throughout the field and Sutton initially held her position before coming under threat from a recovering Archie Davies. Sutton’s teammate moved ahead on lap seven after Davies set the overall fastest lap of the race.

Sutton was now looking to follow Davies through the field and she immediately ran back-to-back personal best times. Harry Lindley was also showing good speed in the middle portion of the race and after Daniella defended her position, Lindley passed the Race Car Consultants machine on lap 10. On the following lap, Oscar Homerstone had a sizeable incident at Paddock Hill Bend and after his Ford Fiesta rolled, the race was red flagged and subsequently did not resume.

In the final classification, Sutton finished in 16th position as she rounded-out her BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship career. Although it was a difficult weekend at Brands Hatch, Sutton drove smartly to complete two clean races and seal eighth place in the overall championship standings.

After two years of progress in junior formula, Sutton is now ready to take the next step on her motorsport journey.