Sarah Thomson, Faye Noble-Evans, and Sarah Wood all finished their Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup season on a high note at Snetterton, with Thomson achieving a strong seventh place in race two, while Noble-Evans and Wood also made significant progress to secure top-10 and top-20 finishes respectively.
The final round of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup saw both Sarah Thomson and Faye Noble-Evans finish inside the top-10, while Sarah Wood also finished her season on a high.
Race one of the weekend was challenging for all three drivers as Thomson was the highest finishing female driver in 14th position. The second race of the weekend featured a red flag period and Thomson was able to capitalise with an excellent seventh-place finish, while Noble-Evans took the checkered flag in tenth and Wood in a strong 16th position.
Arriving at Snetterton for the season finale of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup, the trio of female drivers were looking to end their campaigns on a good note. Faye Noble-Evans ran in a podium position during the previous round at Donington Park, ending the weekend with a best finish of fourth. Sarah Thomson showed good speed and racecraft as she battled inside the top-10, while Sarah Wood made excellent progress in tricky conditions to enjoy one of her most competitive events to date.
Qualifying took place on Sunday morning and was held in cool, but dry conditions. The session was uninterrupted which enabled the drivers to build their confidence over the longest lap of the entire season.
All three drivers improved their times during the session, with Sarah Thomson returning to the pits early as she encountered a small issue. At the end of qualifying, Faye Noble-Evans had set the 11th fastest time, Thomson placed 17th, and with a good improvement on her final lap of the session Sarah Wood was 23rd fastest.
Prior to the racing getting underway, all three drivers were able to improve their grid positions following disqualifications handed out after qualifying. As a result, Noble-Evans started ninth, Thomson 14th and Wood from 20th position.
As the lights went out, Thomson made an excellent getaway and gained two positions on lap one to move up to 12th position. Thomson was now running directly behind Noble-Evans who had fallen to 11th, while Sarah Wood was running in 22nd position.
Noble-Evans was keen to regain lost ground and re-entered the top-10 with a pass on Martin Mason. After her good start, it was a challenging opening portion of the race for Thomson who lost out to Charlie Dye, before falling behind Stuart Warner and a recovering Wayne Gregory to slot into 15th position.
The middle portion of the race was also tough for Noble-Evans and by lap six, she had slipped to 13th position after Perry Darling moved ahead.
Towards the rear of the field, Sarah Wood was setting consistent times and continuing to learn the technical Snetterton 300 circuit. Into the second half of the race, Thomson’s pace was improving considerably and although falling as low as 16th, she set a personal best time on lap seven which was just half a second away from that of the race leader.
Now quicker than the next four drivers, she was targeting a late race charge and drew level with Noble-Evans as the duo began the penultimate lap. Thomson completed the pass to finish race one in 14th with Noble-Evans in 15th and Sarah Wood taking the checkered flag in 22nd position.
For the second race of the weekend, the starting grid was set by the second fastest times set in qualifying. This saw Noble-Evans line up from eighth, Thomson was 12th and Wood from 19th position.
A stalled car in the midfield led to contact being made between a number of drivers and Sarah Wood did a superb job to negotiate this incident. At the end of lap one, Wood was up to 16th while it was a more difficult start for Noble-Evans who dropped to 11th and Thomson fell one place to 13th.
Thomson’s pace was especially strong in the early stages and this allowed her to complete overtakes on both Eric Bridges and Stuart Warner by the end of lap three. Now running directly behind Noble-Evans, both drivers were looking to move forward and after a crash for Charlie Dye, the duo were inside the top-10 as the safety car was deployed.
The car of David Hussey had also suffered a blown engine and with oil on the circuit, the race was red flagged.
A great job from the marshals allowed the racing to resume for a duration of three laps with Sarah Wood also benefiting from this resumption as she moved into 16th position. After the first lap of the restarted race, Wood held 16th position while Noble-Evans was 11th and Thomson up to ninth.
An excellent final lap saw Thomson overtake both Graham Heard and Matt Gough to finish the final race of the season in seventh, while a last lap pass allowed Noble-Evans to add to her top-10 tally in tenth position with Wood taking the checkered flag in 16th.
It was a positive end to the final round of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup with all three drivers making significant progress in race two. It was a day of improvement for Sarah Thomson who showed excellent race pace culminating in a seventh-place result.
Both Noble-Evans and Wood enjoyed a positive end to their season with the one-make championship providing close and affordable racing at some of the most iconic circuits in Britain.
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