PSCGB: Aimée Watts battles to double top-5 at Croft
- LIAM REDFORD
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
Aimée Watts achieved a pair of top-5 results in the RS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Clean Racing driver overcame adversity to secure a best result of fourth.
Aimée Watts achieved a pair of top-5 results in the RS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Clean Racing driver overcame adversity to secure a best result of fourth.
Arriving into the second half of the season sitting fifth in the RS Am class standings, Watts was aiming for a return to the podium. Having stepped onto the rostrum in each of the first three events of the season, Watts has established herself as a consistent frontrunner in her second year in the series. A thrilling event last time out at Knockhill saw the Clean Racing driver involved in a number of close battles, while Watts adapted superbly to changeable conditions.
Now competing at Croft, Watts faced a circuit she was less familiar with and this brought additional challenges ahead of free practice on Friday. With Watts having missed the in-season test session in June, she was aiming to learn quickly while working with her team to make consistent improvements.
Friday’s running saw the drivers participate in a pair of free practice sessions. Watts set the sixth fastest time in the RS Am class in the morning session with the Clean Racing driver clocking a quickest lap of a 1:25.328. Despite the afternoon session being disrupted by an extended red flag period, Watts took significant strides forward to end the day in third position within the RS Am class on a 1:22.906.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning and the rhythm of the drivers was disrupted by two separate red flag periods. In the early stages of the session, Watts lapped within a tenth of a second of her free practice benchmark as she sat in sixth position in the RS Am class at the halfway point.
Following a second red flag, the drivers were given one final chance to improve and Watts took a significant step forward. Setting a fastest time of a 1:22.328, the Clean Racing driver qualified in sixth position within the RS Am division.
Race one at Croft took place early on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the fastest times from qualifying, Watts lined up from sixth in the RS Am class. As the lights went out, the Clean Racing driver made a superb start as she quickly passed Matthew Briers and moved inside the top-5. Despite contact from James Seale causing damage to her steering, Watts was able to continue and gain ground in the early stages.
Watts then settled into her rhythm and began to set consistent lap times as she looked to bridge the gap to the drivers ahead. By lap four, Watts was beginning to stabilise the margin while showing particularly competitive speed through the high-speed middle sector. Although Briers began to close in on Watts, she was protecting her position well as overtaking was proving challenging throughout the field.
On lap nine, misfortune struck as the steering damage worsened and led to an off-track moment which forced Watts to slow and retire from the race from fifth position in the RS Am class. It was an unfortunate end to the opening race of the weekend after Watts showed good improvement to bounce back from a challenging qualifying session.
Race two at Croft took place later on Saturday afternoon and following good work from the Clean Racing team, Watts took her place on the grid. Lining up from fifth position in the RS Am class, Aimée was looking to score a good haul of championship points while pushing towards the podium places.
At the end of lap one, Watts was in sixth position within the RS Am class after Seale moved ahead. The Clean Racing driver was soon back into the top-5 after an issue for Reece Somerfield saw the Breakell Racing driver retire from the race. Watts then under attack from both Richard Hosking and Mark McKenzie with both drivers targeting a season’s best result in the RS Am class.
Pressure was then relieved on Watts as the Hosking and McKenzie began to battle, while both drivers were assessed five-second time penalties for a false start. During the middle portion of the race, the Clean Racing driver was continuing to gain confidence and on lap 10 she set a new fastest lap of a 1:23.554.
After setting the third fastest lap within the RS Am class with this new benchmark, Watts was the second fastest driver in class on lap 12 as battles began to emerge ahead. It was a consistent run to the chequered flag for Watts who finished in fifth position within the RS Am class to bank a solid haul of championship points.
The final race of the weekend was held on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the race two results, Watts lined up from 14th overall, fifth in the RS Am class. The track was predominantly dry and all drivers fitted the slick tyres, however some damp patches away from the racing line led to additional challenges.
Watts made a great start as she passed Matthew Briers off the line to complete lap one in 13th position overall, fourth in the RS Am class. Richard Hosking had also overtaken Briers and the experienced racer began applying pressure to Watts in the early stages. After Hosking came under pressure from Reece Somerfield, this relieved pressure on Watts before the Breakell Racing driver moved into fifth.
Somerfield overtook Watts on lap four, however the Clean Racing driver maintained 13th position overall after teammate Matthew Kyle-Henney retired with damage. Watts then began running her quickest race laps of the event to date as she remained in contention with Somerfield.
On lap six, a personal best time of a 1:23.901 meant that Somerfield remained within a second and this provided Watts with a confidence boost. Her speed through the first sector was especially competitive and after setting a number of class-leading times through this part of the circuit, she was the sixth fastest driver overall in sector one during lap 10.
As a result, the gap to Somerfield reduced to just half a second with Watts looking to regain fourth position. Although Briers cleared Hosking during the middle stages of the race, he failed to make inroads on Watts with her speed remaining strong.
On lap 13, her tenacity paid off as Somerfield slowed with an issue and this promoted Watts back into fourth within the RS Am class. A good run to the finish saw the Clean Racing driver take the chequered flag in 12th position overall, while securing her best result of the weekend with a fourth place RS Am class finish.
Watts worked hard to overcome challenges throughout the weekend at Croft as the Clean Racing driver achieved a pair of top-5 finishes. Ending the event on a high with strong pace in race three, this will give Watts cause for optimism heading into the penultimate round of the season which takes place at Silverstone on the weekend of 26/27th September.
