PSCGB: Aimee Watts secures pair of sixth-place finishes at Oulton Park
- LIAM REDFORD
- Jun 24
- 5 min read
Aimee Watts continued her development in her rookie season of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain by twice finishing in sixth position within the RS Am class at Oulton Park, where Watts moved up with a strong drive in changeable conditions in race 1 and narrowly missing out on a top-five again in race 2.
Aimee Watts continued her development in her rookie season of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain by twice finishing in sixth position within the RS Am class at Oulton Park. Watts qualified in seventh position, before a superb drive in changeable conditions in race one saw her finish in sixth. A further sixth-place result followed in race two, before opening lap contact in race three led to an unfortunate retirement.
Watts arrived at Oulton Park high on confidence after achieving her first ever Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain podium last time out at Brands Hatch. A stunning last-lap pass secured her spot on the rostrum in the competitive RS Am field which was boosted by additional entries ahead of the weekend. Despite the step up in both car performance and competition in 2025, Watts has adapted superbly and was targeting further top-5 finishes at Oulton Park.
On-track action began on Friday with two free practice sessions held in warm conditions. Watts took significant strides forward during the day as she completed a total of 43 laps in her Clean Racing machine. By improving by over two seconds from the first to the second session, Watts ended the day sixth fastest in the RS Am class with a quickest time of a 1:24.913.
Qualifying took place early on Saturday morning and Watts was looking for further improvements after a positive day of practice. The Clean Racing driver built herself up into the session and made significant gains with each qualifying run. Her speed in the final sector was especially impressive and was regularly on-par with many of the RS Pro competitors.
At the end of the session, Watts’ fastest time of a 1:24.451 placed her seventh within the RS Am class. It was an extremely closely fought class with fourth-place driver Dean Burden just three tenths of a second ahead.
The opening race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with Watts lining up from seventh position in the RS Am class. The Clean Racing driver held her position on the opening lap, before Karim Sekkat began applying pressure from behind. At the end of lap two, Sekkat was less than half a second behind, however Aimee quickly responded to his challenge. On the following lap, Watts was the second fastest driver through sector one in the entire RS Am class and this allowed her to build a small margin to the Moroccan driver.
After the race settled into a mid-race rhythm, Watts gained one position in the overall classification on lap five as RS Pro racer Oliver Cottam retired with a technical issue. Her position was improved further on the next lap when an off-track moment for Dean Burden allowed Aimee to climb into sixth position within the RS Am class.
Three laps later, a light rain shower hit Oulton Park which made conditions extremely treacherous for all the drivers. Watts acclimatised to the damp surface extremely well and immediately caught up to the rear of Daniel Lewis, completing lap nine just a quarter of a second behind her rival. As the drivers battled for grip, Oliver Meadows slid off the road at Cascades with Aimee’s RS Am class rival rejoining the circuit just ahead.
Sekkat was also beginning to struggle and after the Breakell Racing driver had a moment of his own, the pressure behind Watts was relieved. As the race entered the closing stages, the rain lightened and Aimee continued her excellent pace to take the chequered flag in sixth position within the RS Am class in a well-controlled race in challenging conditions.
The second race of the weekend took place later that day with fully dry conditions returning to Oulton Park. Watts started from seventh position in class with the grid positions decided from the second fastest laps set in qualifying. Aimee made an excellent start and immediately moved into fourth position at the end of lap one, while she also had the RS Pro class machine of Ethan Hammerton behind her.
Watts held her own superbly through the opening two laps, before the Graves Motorsport driver drew level as the pair started lap three. Hammerton made the move into turn one and Watts did a nice job to maintain her fourth position in class with both Reece Somerfield and Dean Burden also looking for a way through.
Both drivers were applying considerable pressure during laps three and four, while Watts was doing her best to pull out a small margin. Her resistance was broken on lap five as Burden moved ahead, while Daniel Lewis also closed in. Lewis had been issued a ten-second penalty for a false start and therefore it was not crucial to keep the Race Car Consultants machine behind.
Lewis and Somerfield continued to run within a second of Watts as the race entered the middle stages. On lap eight, Somerfield also found a way through with Aimee now running in sixth position within the RS Am class. As Watts continued to push to regain her position inside the top-5, she received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
Nonetheless, she was doing a superb job to hold off Lewis while displaying some fantastic defensive driving in extremely warm conditions at Oulton Park. The Clean Racing driver resisted the challenge of her rival right to the chequered flag and secured her second sixth-place finish of the day in the RS Am class.
The final race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon with the grid positions based on the results from race two. Therefore, Watts lined up from sixth on the grid within the RS Am class and she was now looking to secure her first top-5 finish of the event. Aimee got a good launch off the line and was challenging for positions towards the top-5 as the drivers approached Old Hall corner.
Watts then received contact due the close-quarters racing on the first lap and this resulted in damage to her car. The Clean Racing driver then slowed as Aimee fell to the rear of the field, however she initially remained on the circuit in eighth position with the RS Am class. Unfortunately, the damage was too significant to continue and this forced Watts to retire into the pits.
It was a tough end to a promising weekend for Watts who showed good speed at a challenging circuit. She narrowly missed out on a top-5 finish in both races one and two, while her pace in changeable conditions was particularly impressive. The Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain drivers will now take a summer break before returning at Knockhill on the weekend of August 16th/17th.
