Maggie Webster has made an excellent start to her circuit racing career with a class victory and two top-10 finishes overall in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship at Silverstone.
Maggie Webster has made an excellent start to her circuit racing career with two top-10 finishes in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship at Silverstone. Webster showed speed and confidence beyond her years in challenging conditions which saw her achieve a best overall result of sixth in a wet race two. The young driver also claimed two MK6 class podiums, standing on the top step of the podium in race two following the disqualification of a competitor.
Racing runs in the Webster family with Maggie’s brother Albert finishing third in the 2022 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship, before going on to be crowned 2023 AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Champion in his first season of senior racing. Maggie, meanwhile, arrived at Silverstone with past successes of her own.
Competing predominantly in Autograss Racing, an excellent proving ground for young drivers from all motorsport disciplines, Webster was crowned Invicta Kent Junior Saloon Champion in 2023. Building upon these experiences as she embarked on her first circuit racing campaign, Maggie was aiming to build her experience during her debut weekend.
Webster’s first session of the weekend on the Silverstone International circuit was qualifying on Saturday morning, with the young driver targeting consistent lap times in her maiden race weekend. It was a productive session for Maggie who completed 11 laps with her best time of 1:23.404 placing her 14th overall in a 17-car field, third among those driving the MK6 Ford Fiesta.
Lining up 14th for her BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship debut, Webster made an assured start and moved up one position while immediately challenging the drivers ahead of her for a top-10 position. Maggie’s next target was fellow female driver Daniella Sutton and a series of fast laps allowed her to bridge the gap to her rival. Following a fantastic overtake into Village, Webster was into 12th place by the end of lap four and immediately set the fastest lap of her race.
With a sizeable gap having now formed to the drivers ahead, Webster was without the benefit of a slipstream which hindered her immediately progress. Nonetheless, issues for drivers ahead saw her climb into the top-10 overall by nine, while also moving into second within the MK6 class. Maggie’s defensive skills were tested in the closing stages of the race as Sutton mounted a late charge, with the gap between the drivers regularly under a second. Completing the 11-lap race in tenth position, it was an encouraging debut for Webster who gained four overall spots from her starting position.
Conditions were vastly different for race two on Sunday morning with Webster set to compete in her first wet race. Lining up tenth following her result from Saturday’s contest, Maggie made a great start and gained two positions to end the opening lap in eighth. Lap three saw the safety car deployed with Webster remaining in a strong eighth position, before taking the first restart of her career.
The latter half of the race saw Webster involved in a thrilling battle with the MK7 class car of Tommy Harfield. Both Webster and Harfield ran side-by-side through the majority of lap seven, with Maggie coming out on top as the drivers gained speed down the Hangar Straight. Webster was on the outside as the pair entered Stowe, with Harfield getting loose on the inside of the corner and running Maggie out of road and into the gravel.
Despite losing several positions, the red flag was displayed shortly after with the results taken from one lap previous. This saw Webster classified in an excellent seventh, second among the MK6 class competitors. Her result was improved further following a post-race disqualification for Jenson O’Neill-Going, meaning Maggie was the MK6 class winner while finishing sixth overall.
Maggie’s confidence was apparent throughout the weekend despite her relative inexperience in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship. Collecting two excellent results, while being involved in a number of close battles, Webster is in prime position to be a regular top-10 finisher in her debut circuit racing season.
The young driver will be eager to build upon these strong performances when the main season gets underway at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on April 13th/14th.
