Brea Angliss overcame her fair share of misfortune and incident to record a pair of hard-fought top-15 finishes in the latest rounds of the Ginetta Junior Championship as part of the G Fest event at Silverstone (01-04 June).
After a difficult outing at Donington Park a week prior, the 15-year-old rising star was keen to maximise the packed G Fest schedule, which saw her contest six races across two different circuit layouts, and make steps forward with her speed and racecraft behind the wheel of her Breakell Racing Ginetta G40.
For the first time this season Angliss would be returning to a circuit she’d previously raced at, so she got reacquainted quickly during Thursday testing and began making progress with her lap times to edge closer to the outright pace around the long 3.66-mile Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
While qualifying didn’t go her way on Friday morning, she put that behind her and produced two strong race performances. Staying out of trouble and improving her race pace throughout, she made some overtaking moves to rise three places in both.
The Coventry-based racer faced a fresh challenge for the weekend as the action moved onto the Silverstone National circuit. With three long straights, the shorter layout has always produced close, slipstreaming Junior racing and this year was no exception.
Showcasing her improving race craft as she got into the thick of the action, she was unlucky to get caught up in an incident in Saturday’s opener but recovered well to 15th place. Backing that up with 17th in the next one, she was aiming for further forward momentum on Sunday.
Unfortunately, other drivers had other ideas though. A stunning start to race five saw her gain no less than four places on lap one, however an ambitious move from a driver on the next lap led to contact and a damaged car. In the final race, Angliss was battling hard again when a driver shoved her off track and into the gravel trap, a move he was later reprimanded for.
Brea Angliss: “It’s been a busy, rollercoaster few days. I had a couple of strong races on the Grand Prix circuit on Friday, moving forward in both, and was keen to capitalise on that through the weekend but on three occasions my races were spoilt by unnecessary moves by other drivers.
“Thank you to Breakell Racing for all their hard work and dedication to giving me a good car, including a late night on Saturday changing my engine. Hopefully I can build on the experience gained at Silverstone and get the results we deserve at Snetterton next.”
Angliss now heads to Snetterton next in two weeks’ time (17/18 June) for three more Ginetta Junior Championship races.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.