Lydia Walmsley claims breakthrough victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain
- LIAM REDFORD
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
In just her second event in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Lydia Walmsley claimed victory in the CS Pro class at Brands Hatch in race 2 with a superb defensive drive, also maintaining her 100% podium record with two further runner up finishes.
In just her second event in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Lydia Walmsley claimed victory in the CS Pro class at Brands Hatch. A superb defensive drive from the Graves Motorsport driver saw her resist the challenge of championship leader Jonathan Moore to take the win in race two.
Walmsley also maintained her 100% podium record with two further runner-up results as she continued her excellent start to the season.
Walmsley’s transition into Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain was a smooth one in the season opener at Donington Park. The Graves Motorsport driver led a number of laps in the CS Pro class on her way to three runner-up finishes. Now arriving at Brands Hatch, a successful circuit for Lydia in the past, she was aiming to take the fight to early championship leader Jonathan Moore.
The weekend got underway with two free practice sessions on Friday and Walmsley completed the highest number of laps within the CS Pro class. Walmsley set the second fastest time in class during session one, before improving by a quarter of a second in session two. At the end of the day, the Graves Motorsport driver had set the third fastest time in a closely contested CS Pro class.
Qualifying was held on Saturday and would set the grid for two out of the three races. Walmsley made a fast start to the session and at the halfway point, she was the provisional polesitter in the CS Pro class with a best time almost identical to that of her quickest lap from testing.
The lap times continued to improve into the final stages of the session and the Graves Motorsport driver found a quarter of a second. Her best time of a 48.688 placed her third in the CS Pro class, less than two tenths of a second away from Jonathan Moore. Despite missing out on pole position, Walmsley had completed the fewest laps of any driver within her class and that was a smart move with limited new tyres available across the event.
The first race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with Walmsley starting from third position in the CS Pro class. Lydia made a clean start and successfully negotiated the car of Aimee Watts who encountered a technical issue off the line, with Walmsley holding third position in class. The safety car was then deployed after an incident involved Reece Somerfield and Matt Kyle-Henney.
The neutralisation period was extensive and the green flag was displayed on lap 11 with the race distance extended to twenty-five minutes. CS Pro class leader Jonathan Moore had put the RS Am class machine of Dean Burden between himself and second-placed driver Jason Baker and therefore it was crucial for Walmsley to pass Baker as soon as possible. Lydia ran less than a quarter of a second behind the Tuthill UK driver and applied significant pressure as she looked for a way through.
Recovering from her earlier start issue, Watts was now looking for a way through and Lydia did a nice job to hold off her initial challenge in order not to lose a significant amount of time. On lap 14, the Clean Racing driver moved ahead and as Watts began to look for a way past Baker, Walmsley was right on her tail. A fantastic opportunistic manoeuvre saw Lydia follow Watts through and as a result, she was into second position within the CS Pro class.
Once clear of Baker, Walmsley’s pace was strong and she was immediately able to build a gap behind. Despite contending with lapped traffic in the closing stages, Lydia managed the final laps superbly to maintain her streak of runner-up finishes in the CS Pro class.
For race two of the weekend on Sunday, Walmsley lined up second on the grid in the CS Pro class. Lydia lost out to class rival Jason Baker on lap one as the Tuthill UK driver claimed the lead and therefore Walmsley fell to third in class behind Moore.
By lap four, Moore had closed in on Baker for the class lead and following an ambitious move at Druids, contact was made between the drivers. Moore ran wide, while Baker’s car became beached in the gravel and therefore Walmsley snuck through to claim the class lead. As a result of this incident, the safety car was deployed with Lydia leading her first laps at Brands Hatch.
Walmsley made a good restart and although championship leader Moore was now directly behind, her pace was strong and she was not initially required to defend her position. By lap 12, Moore had closed to within a quarter of a second but Walmsley was driving smartly and therefore her rival was becoming frustrated. Following a mistake from Moore on lap 15, Lydia’s margin was almost a second and therefore she could focus on setting fast and consistent times.
As the race entered the closing stages, lapped traffic became a factor with Walmsley doing well to find a way past both Alister Weston and Katia Loggie without losing her lead. Although Moore once again cut the margin, Walmsley drove smartly and did not make any errors as she continued to lead the CS Pro class. On the penultimate lap, another small mistake from Moore gave Walmsley extra breathing space and she claimed her first victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain by a margin of almost one second.
For the final race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, the grid was based on the results from race two and therefore Walmsley lined up from pole position in the CS Pro class. Moore was able to take the lead away on the initial start, however with Jason Baker falling behind a number of the CS Am drivers, Lydia could focus forward on remaining in touch with Moore.
In the early stages of the race, Walmsley did an excellent job to apply pressure to Moore as she ran just half a second behind the Toro Verde GT machine. On lap four, Lydia lapped one tenth faster than her rival and this ensured the margin remained less than half a second. A new fastest lap of the CS Pro class followed on lap five for Walmsley, before Moore responded with a personal best time of his own on lap six.
Walmsley remained consistent as the race unfolded and continue to open up a sizeable margin behind, however Moore started to extend his lead. As the drivers encountered lapped traffic for the first time on lap 11, Lydia pulled back a quarter of a second as she ensured she remained in contention for the race victory. Gaining back almost one second on lap 16, the gap remained just over two seconds as the slower CS Am machines continued to provide an extra challenge.
As the tyres continued to wear in the final laps, Moore slowly edged away as he claimed CS Pro class victory with Walmsley maintaining her podium record in second position. This rounded-off a superb weekend for the Graves Motorsport driver who secured her first victory in the series during race two.
Lydia will be aiming to return to the top step of the podium when Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain returns at Oulton Park on the weekend of 21st/22nd June.