Racing rookie Lucie Hodgson embarked on her circuit racing debut in the Ginetta GT Academy at Oulton Park and held her own against more experienced competitors, achieving a best result of 12th overall and ninth in class.
Racing rookie Lucie Hodgson embarked on her circuit racing debut in the Ginetta GT Academy at Oulton Park. Competing in the rookie class, Hodgson achieved a best result of 12th overall and ninth in class, both coming in race three. Lucie’s speed in wet conditions was especially notable as she looks to gain experience in a competitive grid of Ginetta drivers.
Lucie arrived at her debut weekend as a complete racing novice and was looking forward to developing her skills in the Ginetta GT Academy across the course of the season. The opening test sessions at Oulton Park provided extra challenges with mixed conditions throughout Thursday’s running. Hodgson ended the day 10th overall, seventh among the rookies. Improving upon her best time from Thursday by almost two seconds, Lucie ended Friday’s running 15th overall, tenth among the rookie class drivers.
Conditions were dry for Saturday’s qualifying session with Lucie taking advantage of the extra track time to further improve on her lap times. Despite a small red flag interruption during the session, Hodgson was still able to clock her quickest time of the entire event to date. A lap time of 2:02.182 placed the debutant 16th overall, tenth among the Ginetta GT Academy rookie competitors.
Lining up on the eighth row of the grid, Lucie made a clean start to her debut race with the rolling start enabling her to remain close to the pack. After moving into the top-15 at the conclusion of lap two, Hodgson set a personal best lap time and settled into her rhythm. Her consistency throughout the twenty-minute race was commendable, with laps three-through-nine all within one second of her best.
The penultimate lap of the race saw Lucie set her best lap of the entire event, before taking the checkered flag without incident to complete her debut race 16th overall, tenth among the rookie class drivers.
Lucie was faced with an extra challenge ahead of race two of her debut weekend, a wet track and therefore an initial safety car start. Nonetheless, Hodgson did a superb job to negotiate a busy opening lap and drop one position from her starting spot to end lap one 15th overall, ninth in the rookie class.
Hodgson’s pace continued to be comparable to the drivers ahead, particularly in the middle sector, which enabled her to stay in touch with her fellow rookies. A late-race safety car saw a one-lap restart and a dash for the checkered flag. Lucie drove extremely well to end the race 15th overall, ninth in class, while displaying strong pace in her first ever race meeting.
Wet conditions persisted for the third and final race of the weekend, with Lucie aiming to use the experience she had gained to achieve her best result to date. Starting from 15th overall, ninth in class, following her race two result, Hodgson lost one position on lap one but once again remained in close contention to the drivers ahead.
Following a safety car interruption, Lucie was up to 14th overall and barely one corner of racing was completed on the restart before a second safety car period begun. A lengthy clean-up process saw the race ended prematurely, with Hodgson collecting her best result to date. Taking the checkered flag in 12th overall, ninth among the rookie class, it was a well-deserved personal best result at Oulton Park.
Hodgson competed well on her debut race weekend in the Ginetta GT Academy, with the racing rookie holding her own against more experienced competitors. Both wet and dry conditions gave Lucie valuable experience, with her wet weather pace particularly strong as she displayed her car control at a challenging circuit.
Hodgson will be aiming to build upon these performances as the drivers will next tackle the legendary Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on the weekend of 27th/28th April.