PSCGB: Lydia Walmsley battles challenging conditions, collects valuable points at Silverstone
Lydia Walmsley continued her progress in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Clean Racing driver achieved a best result of eighth in the RS Pro class, while she consolidated second position in the Talent Pool championship standings.
Lydia Walmsley continued her progress in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Clean Racing driver achieved a best result of eighth in the RS Pro class, while she consolidated second position in the Talent Pool championship standings.
In her debut season in the RS Pro class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Walmsley has continued to demonstrate consistent progress which has seen the Clean Racing driver maintain second within the Talent Pool Championship. Her performances last time out at Croft were typical of Walmsley's mature driving as she matched her career best overall finish while securing three second-place finishes among the Talent Pool drivers.
Walmsley was now targeting a strong weekend at Silverstone, a circuit where the Clean Racing driver has previously achieved success in other categories. The event began on Thursday with the first pre-event test sessions. Walmsley drove in the final two sessions of the day with her quickest time of a 57.332 placing her in tenth position within the RS Pro class, while the Clean Racing driver was fifth among the Talent Pool competitors.
On Friday, the drivers participated in two free practice sessions and Lydia took a significant step forward. Completing 61 laps, Walmsley improved to a 56.640 which saw her climb to ninth in the RS Pro class, while she improved to third in the Talent Pool Championship order. Setting a quickest lap just six tenths away from overall pacesetter Josh Rogers, Walmsley's speed through the final sector was especially competitive.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning with Walmsley aiming to improve upon her best time from free practice. Despite two separate red flag periods due to issues for RS Am class competitors Aimee Watts and Matthew Briers, Walmsley was showing good speed. Her pace through the middle sector was especially competitive with the Clean Racing driver setting a fastest lap of a 56.440. This time placed Walmsley in 11th position overall, ninth within the RS Pro class and third among the Talent Pool competitors.
Race one at Silverstone was held on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results of qualifying, Walmsley started from 11th position overall, ninth in the RS Pro class. As the lights went out, Walmsley lost one position to debutant Josh Smith before the Clean Racing driver settled into 12th overall, tenth in the RS Pro class.
In the early stages of the contest, there were few position changes inside the top-10 with the lap times extremely close throughout. Therefore, the best chance to move forward was to apply pressure to the drivers ahead to force them into a mistake. On lap six, Walmsley was faster than the three drivers directly ahead with her speed through Copse corner particularly strong.
As the race approached halfway, Walmsley remained in 12th position overall, tenth in the RS Pro class, while she began to build a gap to fellow Talent Pool competitor James Seale behind. After a series of fast laps, Walmsley closed to within two tenths of a second on Daniel Lewis as the drivers began lap 13. After forcing Lewis to defend, Walmsley remained in 12th position overall as she continued to look to gain positions in the closing stages.
Up ahead, Chris Bingham received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits and this provided Lydia an opportunity to gain points in the Talent Pool championship. On the final lap of the race, an issue for Matthew Kyle Henney saw him retire from the race with Walmsley taking the chequered flag in 11th position, later promoted to tenth once Bingham's penalty was applied. This also elevated Walmsley to eighth position in the RS Pro class while the Clean Racing driver now claimed the Talent Pool championship lead.
The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest lap times from qualifying, Walmsley lined up from tenth position overall, ninth in the RS Pro class. As the lights went out, Walmsley initially held her ground before coming under attack down the Wellington Straight. The Clean Racing driver slipped behind both Daniel Lewis and James Seale as Walmsley completed the first lap in 12th position overall, tenth in the RS Pro class.
On lap two, Walmsley enjoyed a fantastic battle with Seale as she briefly moved ahead of her fellow Talent Pool competitor before the Xentek Motorsport driver reclaimed the position at Luffield. Nonetheless, Walmsley continued to apply pressure to Seale as she ran just a tenth of a second behind her rival as the drivers began lap four.
After Seale began to edge away, Walmsley came under threat from Dean Burden who was displaying excellent speed during this phase of the race. On lap nine, Burden passed Walmsley with Lydia now running in 13th position overall, while she remained tenth in the RS Pro class. As Walmsley looked to regain her momentum, Reece Somerfield closed in and the experienced racer was now forcing the Clean Racing driver to defend her position.
During the second half of the race, Walmsley was defending smartly from Somerfield who looked to close in on Burden who was holding the final spot on the RS Am class podium. Despite his best efforts, Walmsley did a superb job to hold 13th overall and she remained in this position to the chequered flag. Finishing tenth in the RS Pro class, Walmsley also claimed fourth position among the Talent Pool competitors in the second race at Silverstone.
For the final race of the weekend, the drivers faced an additional challenge with wet conditions. The significant majority of the field fitted the grooved tyres and with the grid positions based upon the results from race two, Walmsley lined up from 13th on the overall grid, tenth in the RS Pro class.
As the lights went out, Walmsley settled in behind Dean Burden before the Toro Verde GT driver spun at Copse. Walmsley did a superb job to avoid the spinning car, however by taking avoiding action this lost the Clean Racing driver crucial momentum. Nonetheless, Walmsley's car was undamaged as she completed lap one in 15th position overall, while she retained tenth in the RS Pro class.
On lap two, Aimee Watts also spun at Copse and this elevated Walmsley to 14th in the overall classification. After settling into a consistent rhythm, Walmsley was looking to move forward while targeting additional points within the Talent Pool championship.
After a spin for Mark McKenzie, the Graves Motorsport driver was now directly ahead. On lap six, McKenzie spun coming onto the front straight and once again Walmsley reacted fast to avoid the spinning car. Although she was again delayed, the Clean Racing driver maintained her position with the battling RS Am class machines of Daniel Lewis and James Seale now directly ahead.
After Lewis claimed the class lead, Seale spun at Copse with his Xentek Motorsport machine hitting the barriers. This incident brought out the safety car and due to the lengthy recovery required, the race ended at a reduced speed. As a result, Walmsley took the chequered flag in 13th position overall, tenth in the RS Pro class, while Lydia finished as the third-highest placed driver among the Talent Pool competitors.
It was a challenging weekend at Silverstone for Walmsley who fought hard throughout the event to maximise her results. After briefly claiming the Talent Pool championship lead, Walmsley is now two points behind Chris Bingham as the battle for the title will go down to the final races at Brands Hatch.
The season finale for Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain takes place on the iconic Grand Prix circuit on the weekend of 10th/11th October.
