PSCGB: Aimee Watts contends for podium finishes, secures fourth-place result at Silverstone
- LIAM REDFORD
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Aimee Watts achieved her fourth top-5 finish of the season in the RS Am class as she continued her positive rookie season in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, battling for podium position in mixed conditions and securing a best result of fourth at Silverstone.
Aimee Watts achieved her fourth top-5 finish of the season in the RS Am class as she continued her positive rookie season in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain. Watts ran in a provisional podium position during mixed conditions in race one as she displayed her adaptability at the home of British motorsport. The Clean Racing driver secured a best result of fourth at Silverstone in a shortened race two, before ending the event with a sixth-place finish.
Arriving at Silverstone targeting a return to the RS Am class podium, Watts was looking to build upon an encouraging display at the previous round at Knockhill. The Clean Racing driver showed excellent speed throughout the event and was involved in a thrilling battle for the final spot on the podium during the third race.
Courtesy of her performances, Aimee entered the penultimate round of the campaign in sixth position within the RS Am championship standings and she was now targeting a late-season charge to move inside the top-5.
Due to her experience within other championships prior to this season, Watts had extensive experience racing at Silverstone. However, tackling the National layout in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport was a different challenge and would require both speed and precision to fight at the head of the field.
On-track action began on Wednesday as the drivers took part in four short test sessions held in changeable conditions at Silverstone. Watts showed especially good performance in the first session which was held in wet conditions as she set the sixth fastest time in class. As the track dried and the times improve, the Clean Racing driver set a quickest lap of a 57.411 which was fast enough for seventh in the RS Am class.
On Friday, the drivers participated in two free practice sessions which were held in warm and dry conditions. It was an extremely positive day for Aimee who contended near the top of the RS Am class times throughout. Setting a fastest lap of a 57.018, Watts ended free practice in fourth position within the RS Am class, while her optimum lap from the second session was just a few tenths of a second away from class pacesetter Oliver Meadows.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and Watts was targeting further improvements in what was set to be extremely closely contested session. The Clean Racing driver made a great start to qualifying as she soon moved inside the top-5 of the RS Am class. Watts lapped consistently throughout the session on her way to a fastest time of a 56.763 which placed her in fifth position within class and less than half a tenth away from Jodie Sloss in fourth.
The first race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon and the conditions had changed at Silverstone. With rain falling while the cars were in the assembly area, Watts fitted the wet weather tyres with a split in strategy across the grid. Starting from fifth position, Watts made a superb start and despite the challenging conditions, she moved into fourth. However, the race was then red flagged following an incident for Tom Bradshaw and a lengthy cleanup followed.
The race restarted over a revised duration of fifteen-minutes lap and due to the time which had passed, the track was beginning to dry. Watts again made a superb start as she moved into second position within the RS Am class following the opening lap. On lap two, Jodie Sloss moved ahead before the drivers on the slick tyres began to gain an advantage.
Out of all the classes, the RS Am class featured the greatest number of drivers who fitted the slick rubber and this was paying dividends for those who gambled on the track drying quickly. On lap three, Jason Baker and teammate Matt Kyle-Henney moved through, before Reece Somerfield and Daniel Lewis also completed overtakes. Watts was down to eighth at the end of lap five after Karim Sekkat utilised his slick tyres to gain further ground.
The race then settled into a mid-race rhythm with the slick shod runners extending their margin, while those on the wet tyres began to battle for position. Watts was chasing both Sloss and Baker with the Clean Racing driver showing good speed through the first sector as she closed in on her rivals.
Aimee remained in contention for a top-6 position within the RS Am class until misfortune struck two laps from the end. Watts spun at Copse following contact with the CS Am class machine of Giancarlo Romano and following damage she was forced to pit and retire from the race just one lap from the chequered flag. Nonetheless, Watts gained valuable experience in mixed conditions while showing good speed among those on the wet weather tyres.
Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Watts lining up from fourth on the grid courtesy of her second fastest time from qualifying. Aimee made a good start and held fourth position through the opening lap while showing good sped in the early exchanges. The race was then red flagged at the beginning of lap three following an incident for fellow RS Am class driver Karim Sekkat at Becketts. With the race unable to be resumed, the results were counted from the first lap of the race and therefore Watts was classified in fourth position, securing a good haul of championship points.
For the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, the grid positions were based upon the results from race two. Therefore, Watts lined up from fourth on the grid as she looked to push towards the RS Am class podium. It was a challenging start for the Clean Racing driver who fell to sixth at the end of lap one, before Jodie Sloss and Dean Burden made their way through on lap two.
Watts was keen to claw back ground and on lap three, she overtook Burden for seventh place in the RS Am class. Aimee’s speed through the high-speed first sector was especially strong as she showed good confidence through Copse corner.
Her pace was rewarded on lap six after an incident involving class rivals Sloss and Jason Baker resulted in both cars being delayed. Watts therefore moved up to fifth, however newcomer Chris Bingham was able to move ahead just prior to the safety car being deployed in order to retrieve the stricken car of Sloss.
Watts restarted the race in sixth position and she was put under significant pressure from Burden through the second half of the race. On lap 14, the LFP Motorsport driver was less than two tenths of a second behind, however Aimee protected her position well. After opening up the margin to over half a second in the closing stages, she could again focus forward on shaping up a move on Bingham. The lap times remained extremely close at the end of race three with Watts taking the chequered flag in sixth position within the RS Am class, just a quarter of a second behind Bingham.
Watts enjoyed a consistent weekend at Silverstone where she consistently fought for top-5 positions within the RS Am class. She was unfortunate that her race one tyre strategy failed to net her a podium, however Aimee displayed good speed in all conditions.
The Clean Racing driver will be looking to end her season on a high when the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain season concludes at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 4th/5th October.
