Callie Clifford wraps-up her rookie season with class podium at Silverstone

JamSport Racing driver Callie Clifford completed her rookie season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship with a strong weekend at Silverstone, securing two top-10 finishes while standing on the class podium.

Photo credits: James Roberts

JamSport Racing driver Callie Clifford completed her rookie season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship with a strong weekend at Silverstone. Clifford qualified in 11th position overall, fourth in the MK6 class and secured a top-10 finish in race one, while standing on the class podium.

Despite collecting damage early in race two, Clifford was able to overcome this setback to score her second top-10 of the weekend. Callie was set for one of her strongest results of the season in race three, before a late-race technical issue halted her progress.

Clifford returned to Silverstone holding down a position within the top-15 of the overall championship standings, while sitting just 26 points behind Maggie Webster for second position in the MK6 class classification.

Callie made her circuit racing debut on the Silverstone International layout at the start of the season and impressed. Fresh off her victory in the JamSport Racing scholarship, Clifford qualified eighth before achieving a best finish of 11th overall, second in the MK6 class.

Returning to a circuit for the second time, Clifford was aiming to put this knowledge to good effect in qualifying which took place on Saturday morning. Despite two early red flag periods, Callie was contending amongst the top-10 drivers in a highly-competitive grid in the season finale. At the end of qualifying, Clifford had set the 11th fastest time overall, fourth in the MK6 class and was just over a second away from pole position.

Conditions were challenging for the opening race of the weekend with the track damp off-line and therefore tyre warmup was challenging. Lining up from 11th on the overall grid, fourth in the MK6 class, Clifford made a good start to maintain her overall position while passing George Foxlow for third in class. At the start of lap two, she briefly moved into the top-10 before losing out to Jack Sant and Bobby Holmes to end the lap in 13th position.

By lap five, Clifford was using the powerful slipstream to good effect as she moved ahead of Holmes, while also passing Jenson Mason and Finn Leslie, with both MK7 drivers often challenging for race victories in the 2024 season. The middle portion of Callie’s race was characterised by a brilliant battle with Mason as the pair traded positions on multiple occasions.

Although she was not quite able to get the better of her rival, Clifford ended race one of the weekend in tenth position overall, while claiming a runner-up finish in the MK6 class after the late-race retirement of Maggie Webster.

Grid positions for Sunday morning’s race two were based on the results from the first race of the weekend and therefore Clifford lined up inside the overall top-10. Following a grid penalty for Billy Blockley, Callie started from ninth and held her position well on the opening lap at Silverstone.

On lap two, contact ahead of Clifford at Village saw the JamSport Racing driver collect significant damage in an incident not of her own making. However, she was able to continue with the loss of just two positions and was maintaining a good pace while challenging for a top-10 spot.

Although the damage was having some effect on Clifford’s performance, she was enjoying good battles and although losing out to Jack Wardle on lap five, she remained close to the group of drivers ahead. This allowed her to set a series of personal best times and following a good move on Benjamin Doughty and Aaron Beattie, she was back inside the top-10.

A great late-race battle between Clifford and Doughty saw the JamSport Racing driver finish race two in tenth position, third in the MK6 class behind overall champion Jenson O’Neill-Going and guest driver Oliver Heron.

For the final race of the season, Clifford lined up from tenth position after her strong drive in race two. Callie made a clean start and although she lost a couple of positions during the first half of lap one, she ended the opening tour in eighth position. The race was then halted by a red flag with Maggie Webster having rolled at Vale corner, fortunately she was able to walk away from the incident unharmed.

When the race got back underway, Clifford made a strong start and was up to ninth position after lap one. After running side-by-side with Jack Sant, Callie cleared the MK7 driver while overtaking Benjamin Doughty with an excellent move at Vale.

Now running in eighth position, third in the MK6 class, Clifford had a nice gap behind and could focus forward. Misfortune then struck on lap five as Clifford entered the pits with a technical issue. A great job from the JamSport Racing team allowed her to rejoin the race for the final lap with Callie taking the checkered flag six laps in arrears.

Although it was a challenging end to the event at Silverstone, Clifford showed good speed on her return to the International circuit. It has been a promising campaign for Callie who has shown excellent speed throughout the season as she has continued to battle for podium finishes in the MK6 class. Her attentions will now turn to the off-season and securing the budget required to continue her motorsport journey in the 2025 season.