Ginetta Scholarship winner Adam Smalley took a brace of rookie wins at Rockingham as his made his debut for HHC Motorsport

Going into the eighth round of the Ginetta Junior Championship, due to a team technicality – Smalley was forced to change teams to HHC Motorsport with just a week before the series headed to Rockingham.

Smalley got suited to his new machinery quite quickly however, setting the 7th best time in timed qualifying and his second-best lap was good enough to set the 9th fastest time for when those times were taken into consideration.

 

The opening race of the weekend saw Smalley launch well off 7th position to get himself into the hunt for the overall podium. A tense but exciting race with cars able to run side by side through the opening sector of the lap led to some great racing.

 

Smalley managed to get up to 5th position – however he knew the gap to the leading four was unsurmountable due to the power of the slipstream into the Deene Hairpin. Smalley cleverly managed his race and position to cross the finish line 5th and claim the Rookie Victory at Race 19 of the season.

 

In race two, starting from 9th on the grid. The start was messy coming out of the Deene hairpin, with Smalley forced to take avoiding action on a car spun around infront of him at turn four. Smalley took the grass and dropped way down the field. However, he battled back well, retaking position after position with bold overtakes to get himself back into 7th position at the finish line, taking the Rookie Victory again in the process.

The third and final race of the weekend saw Smalley start from 7th position. Smalley was dropped down to 9th at the start as the field battled through the opening lap of the race. Smalley regained 7th position by lap three and set about making further progress up the grid.

 

Lap seven however saw a collision demote him and a rival driver down the order, losing them both several positions in the process. Smalley tried his best to battle back through the train of cars – managing to recover to 11th position at the chequered flag.

 

Adam Smalley “It was very good to take home two Rookie Wins in my first race with HHC Motorsport. The last race was a shame but it is how it can go in motorsport sometimes. I am happy with the progress I am making – hopefully we can continue to make further progress and get onto the main podium in Silverstone and Brands Hatch to cap off my first season of car racing.

Big thanks to Total Rail Solutions as ever for all their support, HHC for being so helpful and helping us settle into the team seamlessly, and all my other partners F1 Alloys and Dan Morley Snap-On for their continued backing.”

 

The Ginetta Junior Championship now heads to Silverstone on the 16-17 September for the ninth round of the championship – as the series reaches the business end. Smalley is currently 7th overall in the championship with 314 points and the second highest rookie.