Maggie Webster achieves best qualifying result, banks valuable points on first visit to Anglesey

Maggie Webster enjoyed a consistent weekend in the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship as she twice finished inside the overall top-10 on her first trip to Anglesey, also excelling in a damp qualifying session before achieving a hat-trick of fourth-place results in the Am class.

Photo credits: James Roberts Photography

Maggie Webster enjoyed a consistent weekend in the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship as she twice finished inside the overall top-10 on her first trip to Anglesey. Webster excelled in a damp qualifying session as the JRW Motorsport driver set the fifth fastest time overall, second in the Am class. In three dry races, Webster achieved a hat-trick of fourth-place Am class results while finishing race three in ninth place overall. 

At the previous round of the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship at Oulton Park, Webster returned to the Am class podium. Webster sat in third position within the Am class standings prior to the weekend and she arrived at Anglesey targeting her first class victory of the season. Anglesey was a new circuit for Webster to learn and therefore this posed a new challenge for the young driver in her first season of senior racing.

Following a productive test day session on Friday, Webster took to a damp track on Saturday morning for the fifteen-minute qualifying session. The JRW Motorsport driver was quickly on the pace and comfortably inside the overall top-10 after the first flying laps. 

Webster continued to improve throughout the second half of the session with her fastest time of a 1:45.730 coming on the final lap of qualifying. This was an excellent time which secured Maggie her best qualifying result to date of fifth overall, second in the Am class.

After securing a career best starting position in damp conditions during qualifying, Webster and her AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship rivals were faced with a dry track for the first race of the weekend. It was a challenging start for Webster who slipped back off the line, before being shuffled down the order through the opening turns. At the end of lap one, Maggie was in tenth position overall while she retained second place in the Am class.

On lap two, Webster was on the move as she overtook Pro class racer Graeme Colfer for ninth place overall. After finding her feet in the early stages of the race, Webster came under threat from Daniel Robinson as her Am class rival was now directly behind. A personal best time on lap five allowed Maggie to open up a small margin, before the midfield battles intensified.

On lap seven, Webster was overtaken by Robinson as well as a recovering Colfer, while Luke Warr also claimed third position in the Am class. Maggie was now in 12th position overall, fourth in the Am class, however she showed her tenacity to quickly set a new personal best time. On lap nine, she ran just two tenths of a second behind Warr as she looked to reclaim a spot on the Am class podium.

The drivers in the midfield were extremely evenly matched in the closing stages and as a result, Webster was just four seconds behind Am class runner-up Robinson with two laps remaining. Despite a spirited effort on the final lap, Webster was unable to gain any further positions with the JRW Motorsport driver taking the chequered flag in 12th position overall, fourth in the Am class. 

Photo credits: James Roberts Photography

Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with conditions remaining dry at Anglesey. The grid positions were set by the results from race one with Webster lining up from 12th overall, fourth in the Am class. It was another challenging start for Maggie as she dropped two positions on the initial launch, before ending lap one in 13th position overall, fourth in the Am class.

Webster was soon into her rhythm and this allowed her to gain two positions on the second lap. After benefiting from a technical issue encountered by Simon Horrobin, a nice move on Connor Blackburn elevated the JRW Motorsport driver to 11th overall, while Webster remained fourth in class. Maggie quickly closed in on James Pope and on lap six, she made the move to claim a spot inside the overall top-10.

A series of personal best times followed and although third-placed Am class driver Luke Warr was over five seconds ahead, Webster was determined to close the gap. The margin to her Am class rivals began to reduce in the closing stages as they battled hard for position, however Maggie then came under threat from Christopher Blackburn.

After running wide at the penultimate corner on lap 10, Blackburn moved ahead and he claimed the final step on the Am class podium following a retirement for Daniel Robinson. Nonetheless, Webster remained inside the top-10 to take the chequered flag in tenth position overall, while remaining fourth in the competitive Am class. 

For the final race of the weekend, the grid was set by a random draw of the top-10 positions with Maggie starting from sixth overall, third in the Am class. As the lights went out, it was a busy run down to the opening turn with contact made throughout the field on the first lap. Webster did well to avoid the spinning car of Alistair Kellett and although she fell to eighth overall, Maggie remained in a provisional podium position within the Am class.

A personal best time on lap three signified Webster’s intent as she was now also defending her spot on the podium from Christopher Blackburn. After a stout defence, Blackburn found a way through on lap four with Webster settling into ninth position overall, fourth in the Am class. A recovering Kellett then made his way through ahead and with some smart driving, Webster retained ninth position as she followed the reigning champion through as he passed Graeme Colfer. 

Webster quickly pulled out a margin to Colfer behind and this allowed her to focus forward on reclaiming a spot on the Am class podium. Maggie’s consistent pace ensured the margin to Blackburn remained at just one second and she was poised to shape for a move should her rival make an error.

Despite a personal best time on the final lap, Webster narrowly missed out on a podium finish to end the weekend with a ninth-place overall finish, while claiming another fourth-place result in the Am class. 

Webster banked a large haul of championship points at Anglesey as she drove maturely on her first visit to the circuit.

Although she was unable to add to her Am class podium tally, two overall top-10 results signified her progress. Her qualifying effort in damp conditions was the highest of the weekend as Webster finished the session just half a second away from pole position.

Webster will now be looking to use her experience from the opening round of the season to good effect as the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship drivers return to Snetterton on the weekend of 19th/20th July.