PSCGB: Aimee Watts kicks-off 2026 season with career best finish
- LIAM REDFORD
- 2h
- 5 min read
Aimee Watts enjoyed an excellent return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as she achieved a career best finish in the season opener at Donington Park, where she finished in second position within the RS Am class in race one, before collecting two fourth-place results to complete her weekend.
Aimee Watts enjoyed an excellent return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as she achieved a career best finish in the season opener at Donington Park. Watts finished in second position within the RS Am class in race one, before collecting two fourth-place results to complete her weekend. The Clean Racing driver finished also all three races inside the overall top-12 to underline her progress in her second season in the series.
Following an encouraging debut season in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Watts returned to the series with Clean Racing targeting regular trips to the Am class podium. Watts ended the 2025 season sixth in the RS Am class standings while she secured a maiden podium result with a last lap pass at Brands Hatch. It was a consistent campaign for the rookie driver who displayed excellent improvements despite her inexperience at this level of racing.
Continuity was key for Watts as she remained with Clean Racing for the 2026 season in an expanded lineup of drivers. The RS Am class was once again set to be close and competitive as highlighted by the lap times at the Porsche media day held in March. Watts completed 44 laps with her best time of a 1:08.255 placing her in sixth position within the RS Am class, but just a quarter of a second away from the third-place time set by Dean Burden.
The action got underway at Donington Park on Thursday with a pair of free practice sessions. Due to two successive red flags, the first session was cut short with little representative running throughout the field. In session two, Watts completed 25 laps and ended the day with a quickest time of a 1:08.300 which placed her in fourth position within the RS Am class.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning with Watts targeting a strong starting position to begin her season. The Clean Racing driver showed consistently good speed through the high-speed middle sector as she challenged for top-5 positions within the RS Am class. Aimee’s fastest lap time of a 1:08.501 was set during the first half of qualifying and placed her in sixth position within the RS Am class.
The opening race of the season was held on Saturday afternoon with Watts lining up from 15th position overall, sixth in the RS Am class. It was a good start for Aimee as she gained one overall position on the first lap to move into 14th position overall, while she held sixth in the Am class.
A hard-charging Reece Somerfield then passed Watts on lap two which dropped her to seventh within class. Watts was now running right behind fellow female driver Lydia Walmsley with both drivers looking to make progress in their respective classes.
On lap six, RS Pro driver Oliver Cottam slowed with an issue and this promoted Aimee back into 14th position overall. After Walmsley cleared RS Am driver Dan Lewis, Watts was now applying pressure to the Race Car Consultants driver while she held off RS Pro and Porsche Talent Pool driver Chris Bingham. On lap 10, Bingham drew level with Watts and he cleared the Clean Racing driver into Redgate corner.
Watts remained close behind Bingham as he shaped for a move on Lewis and this was a smart play as Aimee began lap 13 side-by-side with her RS Am rival. Completing the pass at Redgate, Watts was now into sixth within class and after Ethan Hammerton slowed, the Clean Racing driver was up to 13th overall. On lap 16, Will Rochford pitted with a technical issue and this promoted Watts inside the top-5 of her respective class.
In a thrilling final lap, Dean Burden went off the road ahead and this elevated Watts into fourth within the RS Am class while Aimee also applied pressure to Bingham. A superb move at the final chicane saw Watts beat Bingham by just one thousandth of a second to finish race one in tenth position overall, while securing a fourth-place result in the RS Am class. Following a post-race penalty assessed to James Seale for contact with Burden, Watts was promoted to ninth in the overall classification while securing her first podium finish of the season.
Overnight, a decision was made to reclassify Matthew Kyle-Henney from the RS Am class to RS Pro. As a result, Watts was promoted to second position within class with Aimee therefore achieving her career best finish in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.
The second race of the weekend was held on Sunday morning and with the grid based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying, Watts lined from 15th overall, fifth in the RS Am class. Watts made a good start and held her position through the opening lap as she remained fifth within class. In the early stages of the contest, Aimee did a nice job to open out a margin to Richard Hosking behind and this enabled her to focus forward on the drivers ahead.
RS Pro class driver Lydia Walmsley was her first target and passing her was important to making progress within the RS Am division. On lap seven, the safety car was deployed after Aimee’s class rival Matthew Briers had gone off the circuit. The race resumed on lap 12 with Watts looking for a fast restart to once again challenge for a podium finish within class. Watts was good doing a job to apply pressure to Walmsley while her RS Am class rivals ran side-by-side directly ahead.
It was challenging to execute an overtake in the closing stages, however Watts did a nice job to remain clean and keep the car within track limits. After taking the chequered flag in 15th position overall, fifth in the RS Am class, three track limit penalties for drivers ahead improved her position. In the final classification, Watts was elevated to 12th overall, fourth in class, to round off another positive race in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.
The final race at Donington Park was held on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results from race two, Watts lined up from 12th on the overall grid, fourth in class. As the lights went out, Watts got a fantastic start and began challenging Reece Somerfield for a position on the RS Am class podium. The Clean Racing driver briefly got her nose ahead before Somerfield fought back through the Old Hairpin.
At the end of the first lap, Watts was in 12th position overall, fourth within the RS Am class. Watts continued to apply pressure to Somerfield through the early stages of the race before the safety car was deployed on lap four. After Matthew Briers spun into the gravel at Redgate corner, the race was neutralised while his car was recovered.
The race resumed on lap eight and again Watts was looking fast in pursuit of her second podium finish of the weekend. At the final chicane, an incident behind involving Lydia Walmsley and James Seale led to the race being red flagged. With the tyre barrier requiring repairs, the race was unable to be resumed with Watts classified in 11th position overall, fourth in the RS Am class, after a penalty was applied to RS Pro class driver Chris Bingham ahead.
It was an extremely positive opening weekend of the season for Watts who achieved her best finish in the series. Her second-place result was earned on merit and she backed this up with two further top-5 finishes within class. As a result, Watts sits fourth in the RS Am class standings and just eight points behind championship leader Dean Burden.
Watts will be looking to continue this momentum when Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain resumes at Oulton Park on the weekend of 6th/7th June.
