Career best weekend for Martina Ward on her first visit to Oulton Park

Martina Ward achieved her best results in the Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup at Oulton Park, securing two top-15 finishes including a career-best 12th place in race two after a strong qualifying performance.

Photo credits: Jon Elsey Motorsport Photography

Martina Ward enjoyed her best ever weekend in the Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup as she achieved two top-15 finishes at Oulton Park, including a 12th place result in race two.

Ward rose to the challenge of the tight and technical circuit by qualifying a season’s high 13th, before displaying excellent racecraft in both races. Finishing race one in 15th position, Martina drove smartly in race two to gain three positions and end the day with a career best 12th place result.

Ward’s season to date in the Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup has been one full of promise as Martina’s speed has often rivalled those inside the top-10. Therefore, her next objective was to translate this pace into a strong qualifying performance and consistently battle inside the top-15.

Oulton Park was set to provide a significant challenge for Martina as she made her first trip to the technical Cheshire circuit. The tight confines of Oulton Park would lead to some similarities to that of Cadwell Park, with the undulating nature of both tracks a further comparison.

The Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup qualifying session was the first on-track action at Oulton Park on Saturday morning, with two races to follow later in the day. Ward began the session on the front foot and was immediately inside the top-15 with her first flying laps. She continued to improve as the session progressed and secured a season’s best qualifying effort by setting a lap time of 2:09.673 which placed her 13th overall.

With a tight turnaround in the single-day schedule, the opening race of the weekend took place later on Saturday morning with Ward lining up from 13th on the grid. It was a challenging initial start for Martina who dropped to 16th at the end of lap one, however her pace was strong as she looked to gain back lost positions. This allowed her to pull away from Mary Barnard on lap two and ensure she could focus forward instead of defending from drivers behind.

Overtaking at Oulton Park proved challenging in the opening half of the race and although Ward was catching the drivers ahead, she remained in 16th position. On lap five, Martina overtook Stephen Robinson and capitalised on an off-track moment for Adrian Johnson as she moved up to 14th.

The following lap saw Ward set her quickest lap of the weekend so far as she aimed to maintain a good gap to the recovering drivers behind. Although both Johnson and Robinson were able to work together to move ahead on the penultimate lap to move back ahead of Ward, a strong finish lap saw Martina overtake Matthew Short to finish the opening race of the weekend in 15th position.

Photo credits: Jon Elsey Motorsport Photography

Following her strong opening race at Oulton Park, Ward lined up 15th for race two and looking to move closer towards the top-10. After falling back to 17th at the end of lap one, Martina was determined to move forward and quickly passed Stephen Robinson for 16th.

As the drivers ahead battled for position and Ward ran in comparably clean air, she was now faster than the next six competitors ahead and quickly bridged the gap to the next group.

On lap five she was in position to make her move and gained three positions, passing Mary Barnard, Ian Tomlinson and Matthew short to climb into 13th. Her late-race charge continued as Scott Leach entered the pits on lap seven with Ward now into 12th position, her highest running position of the season to date.

A quick final lap from Martina saw her take the checkered flag in 12th position to claim her best ever result in the Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup.

Ward enjoyed a breakthrough weekend on her first ever visit to Oulton Park, a circuit which often poses significant challenges for debutants. Martina was able to back-up a season’s best qualifying effort with two top-15 results, including an excellent 12th in race two.

Continuing to make strides towards the top-10, Ward will be aiming for further improvements in the final round of the Massimo Tyres 5Club Racing MX5 Cup which takes place at Donington Park on Saturday 12th October.