Ceol Lynch returns to Junior Saloon Car Championship action at Brands Hatch

Making the switch to Orex Competition for the 2024 season, Ceol Lynch has begun her campaign in the Junior Saloon Car Championship at Brands Hatch, where she showed encouraging speed in qualifying and enjoyed a number of close battles in race one.

Photo credits: Andrew Robinson

Making the switch to Orex Competition for the 2024 season, Ceol Lynch has begun her campaign in the Junior Saloon Car Championship at Brands Hatch. Now a comparable veteran of the one-make junior championship, Lynch was aiming to use her experience to fight for top positions.

Qualifying was Lynch’s strongest session where she placed 11th, before finishing 14th in race one. A technical issue forced her to pit in the opening stages of lap two, before the race was ended prematurely by a red flag.

Lynch entered the weekend as one of the most experienced drivers on the Junior Saloon Car Championship grid, with a switch to front-running team Orex Competition giving her an added boost heading into the season. Competing in a partial schedule during her 2023 campaign, Ceol’s best result came during race two at Pembrey where she finished 12th.

Aiming to push towards the top-10, Lynch was targeting a consistent campaign where she could use her race craft to maximise her results.

With the Junior Saloon Car Championship concluding their 2023 season on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Ceol was hoping this recent experience would pay dividends heading into qualifying on Sunday afternoon.

Less than a minute into the session, a red flag for a car off-track brought an early disruption to qualifying. A second red flag saw the session shortened, with the drivers given three final minutes to set a quick time. Despite these challenges, Lynch set the 11th fastest time and put herself in a good position to challenge for a top-10 finish in the races to come.

Conditions were once again dry for the opening race of the weekend, with a few small damp patches remaining following light overnight rain. A good start from Lynch saw her move inside the top-10 at the conclusion of lap one, before being overtaken by Jude Cooper on lap two. Lynch continued to show excellent pace during the first half of the race, keeping in touch with the pack of drivers ahead while beginning to challenge for a top-10 spot.

After being passed by Oliver Kerr on lap nine, Lynch started to struggle with the handing of the car which saw her slip back in the final laps. Losing out to Bertie Bream and Lewis Stannard, she was down to 14th by lap ten. Enjoying some close battles, Ceol was determined to fight back and had moved back up to 13th following an incident for Kyle Wells. A late pass from Wilf Butler dropped Lynch to 14th at the checkered flag, but it was a solid opening race for the Orex Competition driver.

Race two of the weekend brought a further challenge with wet conditions for the Junior Saloon Car Championship drivers. Lining up 11th courtesy of Lynch’s second fastest qualifying time, the Orex Competition driver dropped to 14th at the end of the opening lap.

A technical issue then halted Ceol’s progress and brought her into the pits at the end of lap two, putting pay to a strong finish. Lynch was able to re-join the action five laps down, however a red flag was displayed shortly after and this brought a premature end to the event.

Although it was a challenging return to the Junior Saloon Car Championship for Lynch, she showed encouraging speed in qualifying and enjoyed a number of close battles in race one. Adapting to a new team and racing in a variety of conditions proves valuable experience for young drivers, with Ceol now aiming to carry this knowledge into the remainder of the season.

The next round of the championship takes place at the technical Cadwell Park circuit on the weekend of 27th/28th April.