Daniella Sutton made progress across both qualifying and the pair of races at Snetterton as the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship winner continued to develop her racecraft, having also switched to leading team 20Ten Racing.
Daniella Sutton continued her progress in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship at Snetterton. Switching to leading team 20Ten Racing, Sutton improved on her pace throughout the weekend at a challenging and demanding circuit. Achieving a best result of 16th position overall, 14th within the MK7 class in race two, Daniella banked vital championship points in a weekend which saw the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship winner develop her racecraft.
Daniella was looking to bounce back at Snetterton following a challenge meeting at Brands Hatch where she worked hard with the team to overcome a number of technical issues. Switching to 20Ten Racing for the remainder of the season, Sutton was aiming to benefit from exchanging data with her teammates in order to get up to speed quickly in her new environment. After enjoying a positive test with the squad at Oulton Park, Sutton was looking to make further progress across the race weekend despite little testing at the Norfolk circuit.
Benefiting from a free practice session to open the weekend on Saturday morning, Daniella was able to get up to speed and familiarise herself with the track. It was a productive session as the 20Ten Racing driver completed six laps and set the 16th fastest time overall, 14th among those in the MK7 class. The potential was evident for improvements to come in qualifying and that would be the next target for the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship recipient.
Qualifying would be the next session in which to make improvements and Sutton began on the front foot, immediately setting a competitive lap time. The session was then halted by a red flag period, disrupting the rhythm of the drivers and therefore leaving the young racers with just a couple of laps to improve their times. Daniella ended the session in a credible 14th position overall, 12th in the MK7 class and less than a second away from the top-10.
Race one of the weekend began on Saturday morning and Sutton made a clean start, challenging for positions into the hairpin on lap one. Close battles in the opening exchanges saw her drop to 18th overall at the conclusion of the first lap, before a red flag neutralised the race on lap two. This meant that the drivers lined up on the grid and awaited a restart, with the race now ran over a shorter distance.
With one full lap completed by the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship drivers, the positions for the restarted race were taken from the conclusion of lap one. Sutton lined up 18th overall and had a small spin on the opening lap which saw her fall to the rear of the field. Nonetheless, Daniella was determined to gain vital knowledge of the Snetterton circuit and continued to push on. The 20Ten Racing driver set lap times which matched those inside the top-10, while her personal best time came on the final tour. Taking the checkered flag in 19th position, 15th among those in the MK7 class, Sutton banked points in light of the challenging circumstances.
Grid positions for race two were set by the finishing order in race one and this saw Sutton line up from the tenth row of the grid. It was a clean initial launch from Daniella but she dropped three positions at the conclusion of lap one. Running side-by-side across the line with Maggie Webster, Sutton was able to clear the MK6 competitor and push towards the midfield runners.
On lap three, Daniella overtook Michael Wheeler and following issues for both Aaron Beattie and Joshua Watts, she was up to 19th overall. Lap three also saw Sutton set her fastest lap of the race, coming within a few hundredths of a second of her qualifying benchmark.
Continuing to gain on the drivers ahead, the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship winner was showing her speed and this saw her move ahead of Harry Lindley on lap six. Fellow MK7 class driver Alfie Garford pitted on the final lap which saw Sutton end the contest in 17th place overall, 15th among the MK7 runners, before being promoted to 16th, 14th in the MK7 class following the disqualification of a rival competitor.
Daniella made progress across both qualifying and the pair of races at Snetterton and was unfortunate not to achieve a higher finish. Her one-lap pace in qualifying will be particularly encouraging, especially in a disrupted session, and replicating this consistently during the races will enable her to regularly challenge for top-10 positions.
The next round of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship will be the final double-header of the season and will take place at Oulton Park on Saturday 8th June.