Morgan Kidd continued her strong run of late-season form in the Fiesta ST240 Championship by securing a season’s best result at Thruxton, where she battled in amongst the leading group of drivers while challenging for a podium finish in the Pro class.
Morgan Kidd continued her strong run of late-season form by securing a season’s best result at Thruxton. The high-speed circuit suited Kidd’s driving style and she was immediately on the pace by qualifying in seventh position overall, fifth in the highly competitive Pro class.
In a dry race one, Kidd finished in sixth position overall, fourth in class, while setting the second fastest lap of the entire race. Morgan ran as high as second overall in race two, before a sizeable incident at the Club chicane ended her weekend prematurely.
Kidd enjoyed her best meeting of the season last time out at Silverstone and was looking to carry this momentum forward into a new circuit for the JRW Motorsport driver, Thruxton. An upturn in mid-season form has seen Morgan rise to eighth in the Pro class standings, with a top-5 championship finish in class remaining possible due to her consistency.
As one of only four Pro class drivers to have been classified in every race in 2024, this has enabled her to maintain a strong championship position despite a number of early-season technical issues.
Similarly to many of her rivals, this weekend marked Kidd’s first visit to Thruxton and with a test session earlier in the year held in changeable conditions, qualifying was set to be a challenge. The twenty-minute session took place early on Saturday afternoon and was held in dry conditions. Morgan enjoyed her best qualifying session of the season to date, setting the seventh fastest time overall, fifth in the Pro class and just two tenths of a second away from a second row starting position.
The opening race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with Kidd elevated to sixth on the overall starting grid. Kidd made a clean start and although dropping two positions on lap one, she held a top-5 position in the Pro class.
Utilising a good run out of the final corner, Morgan was able to pass Archie Johnson on lap two before quickly catching Henry Howarth. Kidd was able to clear Howarth on lap five, before a red flag was displayed with barrier repairs required.
The race resumed for a duration of 13 minutes and after the first lap, Kidd held seventh position overall, fifth in the Pro class. On lap two, the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken car of Dan Lewis and therefore green flag running was limited. Following a technical issue for John Cooper on the restart, Morgan was up to sixth overall and now applying pressure to Archie Johnson.
Despite her best efforts to secure a top-5 finish, Johnson defended well with Kidd taking the checkered flag in a superb sixth position overall, a season’s high fourth in the Pro class, while setting the second fastest lap of the entire race.
For the second race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, the conditions were markedly different with persistent heavy rain leading to timetable delays at Thruxton. Early in the afternoon the rain had stopped, however the track was still extremely wet with all drivers fitting the wet weather tyres.
Kidd was set to start from sixth on the overall grid, however she was promoted to fifth following a technical issue for Pro class championship leader Alistair Kellett on the formation lap.
The drivers also faced the challenge of a small malfunction with the starting lights, however Kidd got an excellent start and was into second position overall heading into the first turn. The JRW Motorsport driver carried a little too much speed into Campbell, but still held a position inside the top-5.
Kidd was showing good confidence in wet conditions, however she locked up into the Club chicane due to an ABS malfunction and impacted the tyre barrier at high speed. Fortunately, Kidd was able to walk away from the incident however there was significant damage to the car and she was unable to rejoin the race.
With a quick turnaround to the final race of the weekend, the damage to the car was too substantial for Kidd to line up on the grid. It was an unfortunate end to an extremely promising meeting at Thruxton where Morgan battled in amongst the leading group of drivers, while challenging for a podium finish in the Pro class.
Kidd will be aiming to replicate this pace as the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship returns to Silverstone for the season finale on the weekend of 12th/13th October.
Comments