PSCGB: Aimee Watts rebounds to score podium finish at Silverstone
Clean Racing driver Aimee Watts rebounded from a challenging opening day at Silverstone to end the weekend on a high by stepping on the podium in the RS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.
Clean Racing driver Aimee Watts rebounded from a challenging opening day at Silverstone to end the weekend on a high by stepping on the podium in the RS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.
Arriving at Silverstone for the penultimate round of the campaign, Watts was targeting a return to the RS Am class podium. The Clean Racing driver had impressed throughout the campaign to date, regularly showing class-leading speed while continuing to develop her racecraft in a highly-competitive championship. Although it was a more challenging event last time out at Croft, Watts ended the weekend on a high by finishing in fourth position in class while banking valuable championship points.
In the break between Croft and Silverstone, Watts has driven extensively in historic racing and this has kept her sharp ahead of the final two rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain season.
On-track action began on Thursday as the drivers participated in a pre-event test session. It was an extremely positive start to the weekend for the Clean Racing driver as Watts completed a total of 94 laps across the four sessions. Setting a quickest lap of a 56.511, Watts ended the day in third position within the RS Am class while she was less than half a second away from the overall fastest time set by Samuel Harvey.
Two free practice sessions were held on Friday with Watts banking further valuable experience. Although she was unable to improve upon her fastest time from the previous day, the Clean Racing ended Friday's running with a quickest lap of a 56.696. This again placed Watts in third position within the RS Am class as she put herself in a great position to fight for podium finishes.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning with Watts looking to build upon an encouraging start to the weekend. On her first flying lap, the Clean Racing driver set a time of a 57.039 before misfortune struck. An incident then saw Watts stop out on circuit with the session red flagged. Watts was unable to rejoin the session and therefore she qualified in 16th position overall, sixth in the RS Am class.
Looking to bounce back from a challenging qualifying session, Watts was aiming to move forward during the opening race of the weekend. With the grid positions based upon the results from qualifying, Watts lined up from 16th position overall, seventh in the RS Am class.
It was a great start for the Clean Racing driver who gained a position on the opening lap, before mounting a challenge on Mark McKenzie. On lap two, contact was made between Watts and McKenzie which delayed both drivers with Aimee falling to 19th overall, seventh in class. Now targeting a recovery drive, he first objective was to clear the slower CS class machines and by the end of lap four, she was back on the tail of her RS Am rivals.
On lap four, Watts was the second fastest driver within her respective class and she was now applying pressure to Neil Tofts. Two laps later, the Clean Racing driver made her move as she climbed to sixth in the RS Am class. Richard Hosking was the next driver ahead and on lap nine, Watts was just a tenth of a second behind her rival.
Hosking was putting up a stout defence and with Watts also receiving a warning for track limits, she was now looking to force her rival into a mistake. After a spell of sustained pressure, Watts overtook Hosking on lap 14 for fifth position within the RS Am class. Despite her tyres now being past their best, Watts set a new personal best time of a 56.814 on lap 15 which was the overall fastest lap in the RS Am class.
Lapping over half a second quicker than the drivers immediately ahead, Watts quickly caught Reece Somerfield as she targeted a late-race charge towards a podium position. In the closing stages of the race, Watts completed a superb move on Somerfield as the Clean Racing driver was now up to 13th position overall, fourth in the RS Am class.
With an extremely strong run to the chequered flag, Watts continued to lap on pace with the class leaders and after misfortune for teammate Matthew Kyle-Henney on the final lap, Aimee took the chequered flag in 13th position overall. Collecting RS Am class championship points for fourth position, while also claiming fastest lap, Watts completed a superb comeback in the opening race of the weekend. Unfortunately, Watts was then disqualified from the results post-race due to a technical infringement and this also resulted in further challenges during Sunday's races.
As a result of the disqualification, Watts was forced to start at the rear of the field in race two with an additional ten second delay. Before the race got underway, Watts moved up from eighth to seventh in the RS Am class after Neil Tofts began his race from the pit lane. In the early stages, Watts was aiming to pass the slower CS class machines while hoping for a safety car in which to catch her fellow RS Am class rivals.
On lap five, Watts set a new personal best time of a 56.940 which was the second fastest lap in class. Two laps later, she had cleared the CS class leading machine of Gabe Fairbrother and therefore Watts focused on closing the gap to Richard Hosking. Her fellow RS Am class driver was five seconds ahead with Watts regularly lapping around three-quarters of a second faster than her rivals.
On lap 13, Watts was the fastest RS Am class driver on track as she once again underlined her pace. After closing the gap to Hosking to under half a second, Watts applied pressure to her rival. Beginning lap 18 just a car length behind, Watts shaped for a move into Becketts before drawing level down the Wellington Straight. Following a superb move around the outside of Brooklands, Watts passed Hosking to claim sixth position in the RS Am class.
Despite regularly lapping faster than her class rivals in the closing stages, Watts just ran out of time to make another move. Therefore, the Clean Racing driver took the chequered flag in 16th position overall, while securing championship points for a sixth place finish in the RS Am class after a strong recovery drive.
The final race of the weekend brought a change of conditions with the majority of drivers fitting the wet tyres. The grid positions were based upon the results from race two and therefore Watts faced a challenge as she lined up from 16th overall, sixth in the RS Am class.
As the lights went out, Watts got a superb job and gained three overall positions on lap one while she climbed to fourth in the RS Am class. By the end of lap two, Watts was only half a second off the class lead as the Clean Racing driver was once again showing her adaptability.
In an attempt to move into a provisional podium position on lap three, Watts was pushing hard and she had a high-speed spin on the exit of Copse. Fortunately, the car was undamaged and her rivals avoided the spinning car with Watts rejoining the race in 17th position overall, fifth in class.
Just up ahead, Mark McKenzie was struggling for grip and the RS Am class competitor spun on lap eight to promote the Clean Racing driver to fourth in class. Due to the low grip conditions, it was difficult to overtake the less powerful CS class machines were who enjoying improved traction out of the slow speed corners. After a spell of pressure, Watts overtook CS class leader Gabe Fairbrother on lap 10 as she now aimed to close in on her fellow RS Am class drivers.
On the following lap, Daniel Lewis claimed the class lead from James Seale and in Seale's attempt to regain lost ground, he spun and hit the barrier at Copse. This elevated Watts into a provisional podium position as the safety car was deployed. Due to the complex recovery required, the race entered at a reduced pace with Watts taking the chequered flag in 13th position overall, while returning to the RS Am class podium in third.
It was a well-deserved trip to the rostrum for Watts who displayed excelled speed throughout the event. Despite facing multiple setbacks at Silverstone, Watts ended the weekend on the high as she again showed front-running speed in the RS Am class field in challenging conditions.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain drivers will return to Brands Hatch for the season finale on the weekend of 10th/11th October.
