Holly Miall continued her upturn in form in the Ginetta Junior Championship by scoring points in all four races at Anglesey, which hosted the second Ginetta G-Fest. Facing changeable conditions, Miall scored points in all four races.
Holly Miall continued her upturn in form in the Ginetta Junior Championship by scoring points in all four races at Anglesey.
Racing in the second Ginetta G-Fest, a bumper programme saw four races take place in Wales as the young racers battled changeable conditions. Saturday’s running was held in the wet with the Fox Motorsport driver achieving a best result of 18th. Dry conditions on Sunday brought further close battles for Miall who again finished inside the top-20 during both races.
The Fox Motorsport driver arrived in Wales fresh off the back of her season’s best result at Donington Park. Miall displayed much improved pace throughout the event which resulted in a pair of points scoring finishes, with a good drive to 16th in race two of the weekend.
Holding her own within the midfield, Holly aimed to continue this form at the second annual Ginetta G-Fest. Held at Anglesey Circuit, this would be the first time that the majority of drivers had raced at the challenging track and therefore getting up to speed quickly would be key to a successful weekend.
The Ginetta Junior Championship drivers benefited from multiple test sessions prior to the weekend, with four short sessions taking place on Thursday, before further running on Friday. Setting a fastest time of a 1:50.633 in the final session on Thursday, Holly set the 19th fastest time in her Fox Motorsport Ginetta G40. Miall completed a further 59 laps on Friday and found half a second of lap time improvement to end the pre-event test in 21st position on a 1:50.179.
Conditions were different for the first qualifying session of the weekend with rain and a wet track adding to the challenge of Holly’s maiden race meeting at Anglesey. With just three flying laps in which to set a fast time, it was a challenging session with track limits also playing their part in determining the order. Miall’s fastest lap of a 2:04.732 placed her 22nd overall as the Fox Motorsport driver set a series of consistent times.
Wet conditions remained for the opening race at Anglesey with Miall lining up from the eleventh row of the grid. The Fox Motorsport driver made a good start and negotiated a busy opening lap to move up to 20th position.
Holly was displaying good pace in the early exchanges and this allowed her to close in on the drivers ahead and remain in the points paying places. On lap three, Miall gained two positions as she overtook both Felix Livesey and Ntiyiso Mabunda to move into 18th while running her fastest lap of the race.
The following lap saw Miall run in her highest position to date as she benefited from a spin for Alfie Slater to claim 17th position. The R Racing driver fought back and moved ahead on lap five, before Livesey and Jack Robinson overtook Miall on lap six. Nonetheless, Holly held in close proximity to Livesey and she remained consistent despite the challenging conditions to take the checkered flag in 20th position to score championship points for the third successive race.
Scattered showers persisted throughout the day leading to equally challenging conditions for the second race of the weekend. Miall’s consistency in qualifying saw her line up from 19th on the grid courtesy of her second fastest lap. The Fox Motorsport driver ended the opening lap in 21st and settled into a good rhythm in the early exchanges.
Although there was little overtaking in the lower reaches of the field during the first half of the race, Miall’s confidence grew and on lap five she moved ahead of MDD Racing driver James Ellis for a place inside the top-20.
On lap six, Holly set a personal best time and she was now significantly faster than the next group of drivers ahead. This led to her overtaking both Felix Livesey and Colin Cronin before taking the checkered flag in 18th position to end a positive first day at Anglesey.
Sunday morning’s second qualifying session was held in dry conditions, therefore drivers would have to rely on their knowledge from testing in order to find the ultimate lap time. Miall’s fastest time was set on the final lap of the session and saw her classified in 22nd position, with her second fastest lap also seeing her line up in 22nd for the final race of the weekend.
Dry conditions remained for the third race of the weekend and Miall made a good start by moving inside the top-20. Although slipping to 22nd on lap two, the Fox Motorsport driver ran directly behind Jack Robinson and was then able to overtake her teammate shortly after. A recovering Alfie Slater was then able to take away the final point on lap five, but Holly was able to run behind the R Racing driver and improve her lap times.
As a result, Miall set three successive personal best laps and this allowed her to maintain a comfortable gap ahead of Robinson. On lap nine, Holly once again moved inside the top-20 following an issue for Colin Cronin and although Robinson mounted a late challenge, Miall was able to take the checkered flag in 20th position, promoted to 19th following a penalty for James Ellis.
Holly lined up from 22nd position for the final race of the weekend and was targeting a clean sweep of points scoring finishes. Moving ahead of James Ellis on the opening lap of the race, it was a positive start for the Fox Motorsport driver. After slipping behind Ellis and Harry Moss, Miall was determined to move forward and re-passed Ellis on lap four to claim 22nd position.
It was a busy middle portion of the race for the Fox Motorsport driver who overtook Jack Robinson on lap six, but again lost out to Ellis. Holly was involved in more close battles in the closing stages as she again passed the MDD Racing machine of Ellis for 21st spot. Taking the checkered flag in 21st, Miall was promoted to 20th as a penalty was assessed to Ntiyiso Mabunda.
Miall scored points in all four races at Anglesey and battled challenging conditions throughout the weekend. It was a positive debut meeting in Wales for the Fox Motorsport driver who developed her racecraft across both days of competition.
Miall will now look forward to the next round of the Ginetta Junior Championship which will take place at Snetterton on the weekend of 13th/14th July.