Emilia Vincent made a promising return to the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship, making remarkable lap time improvements - over seven seconds - during the Snetterton event and earning valuable championship points, as she targets sustained progress during the course of the 2024 season.
Claiming two top-25 finishes at Snetterton, Emilia Vincent made a promising return to the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship. Driving a Toyota Aygo, Vincent qualified 28th before achieving a best result of 25th, coming in both races one and three. Making sizeable lap time improvements during the event, Emilia will be targeting sustained progress during the course of the 2024 season.
Following an excellent season of development in the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship in 2023, Emilia returned to the ultra-competitive series for a second campaign. Last year saw Emilia supported by Wiltshire College & University Centre, while competing within the Student Motorsport Challenge sub-class.
Finishing 14th in the final championship standings, the event at Snetterton was a particular highlight with Vincent’s challenging for top-10 positions throughout the weekend. Continuing in her Toyota Aygo, Emilia was looking to use her experience to consistently challenge for positions within the midfield.
Vincent’s competitive weekend began with qualifying on Saturday morning, with a large grid of 34 competitors all fighting for the best combination of clean track, while searching for a slipstream. After a long time out of the car, it was a session of re-acclimatisation for Emilia who improved with each lap of the session to set the 28th fastest time overall.
Lining up on row 14 of the grid for the season opener, it was an encouraging start for Vincent who negotiated a busy first lap to gain two positions. Holding solidly in 26th, Emilia immediately improved on her best lap from qualifying and set about chasing the group of drivers ahead.
Continuing to set personal best times, Vincent was doing well to hold off an attack from Student Motorsport Challenge driver Ari Barker. Taking the checkered flag in 25th position, it was an action-packed final lap which saw Emilia move ahead of both Richard Snuggs and Adam Reynolds, while losing out Peter Bower. Nonetheless, it was a solid start for Vincent who would be targeting positions inside the top-20 in the remaining two races.
Emilia started race two of the weekend from 25th position following her race one result and made a good start by gaining one position on the first lap, while moving ahead of her closest rivals. After falling behind Ari Barker and John Sykes, Vincent was in 26th position but was already lapping faster than her best times from race one.
On lap four, Richard Semmens found a way past in his Citroen C1, before another personal best time kept Emilia in contention. Finishing race two in 27th position, Vincent’s potential was on display as she made over two seconds of lap time improvement from Saturday’s race one.
Targeting further improvements in the third and final race of the weekend, Emilia gained three positions from her 27th place starting spot to end lap one in 24th. Holding closely with the midfield runners, Vincent was enjoying her highest running position of the event to date. Exchanging places with Richard Semmens, she was briefly up to 23rd, before once again falling behind her rival. Setting her fastest lap of the entire weekend on her final lap of race three, it was a second 25th place result of the weekend in Vincent’s season debut in the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship.
It was a weekend of improvement for Emilia at Snetterton who found over seven seconds of lap time improvement from qualifying to the final lap of race three. Although just missing out on a top-20 result, Vincent should be encouraged by her close midfield battles and three results which ensured she earned valuable championship points.
Round two of the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship will take place at Oulton Park on Saturday 25th May.