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Dino Zamparelli increased his lead in the 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship
standings to an incredible 83 points at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire this
afternoon, Saturday, 17th May, after sealing the sixth win of what is rapidly
becoming a dominant campaign.
The Muzz Racing driver shows no sign of letting his grip on the
championship lead slip and with Dominic Pettit taking valuable points off
Zamparelli’s chief title rival Tom Carnaby with a fighting second position
today, it’s hard to look beyond the round nine victor to add another win to his
tally during tomorrow’s race.
Although Josh Hill had secured his third pole position on the bounce
earlier in the day, just 0.010 seconds faster than Zamparelli, the young rookie
was forced to start round nine from the back of the grid after an accident on
his final qualifying lap resulted in him having to use an alternative car for
the race.
Inheriting pole position, Zamparelli made it count immediately as he led
Pettit away from the grid while just behind, British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC)
Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship Winner Daniel Lloyd enjoyed a terrific opening
lap, rising from sixth to third ahead of Jake Farndon, Carnaby, and Simon
Austin.
As Zamparelli tried to make a bit of a break from his pursuers on lap two,
Lloyd started to put Pettit under pressure as he himself came under scrutiny
from Farndon. At the complex on lap three, Lloyd made an unsuccessful attempt to
create an opportunity to pass Pettit and the lost momentum resulted in Farndon
being able to snatch third.
The pair traded places twice more on the lap before the Safety Car boards
were shown due to the cars of erstwhile pole-sitter Hill and Sarah Moore having
made contact. Hill made a good start initially and climbed into the top 15 with
rapid progress from the back of the grid but contact with Moore resulted in a
double retirement.
Controlling the race well at the re-start on lap six, Zamparelli looked to
have the win firmly within his grasp but over the remaining three laps Pettit
did put his rival under pressure – particularly during a grandstand finish at
the chicane on the final tour when the pair almost overlapped at the
entry.
Trying to out-brake Zamparelli around the outside, Pettit carried too much
speed into the turn and straight-lined the kerbs to actually emerge ahead but he
fairly, and quite rightly, ceded the position back to Zamparelli who took the
chequered flag just over a 10th of a second ahead of his rival.
“I made a bit of a mistake coming out of Church at the end which allowed
Dominic to close in but I managed to block the inside up Woodham Hill”,
explained the round nine race winner, “He went to the outside, out-braked
himself and we both ran over the kerbs but thankfully I came home with the
win.
“I’m not thinking about the championship at this stage. I go out to win
every race so tomorrow I’ll focus fully again and hopefully be back on the top
step. It’s not the time to think about the title, there’s a long season still
ahead of us.”
Carnaby ended the race third for a welcome return to the podium, setting
the fastest lap on the penultimate tour with a new record of 1m 35.479 seconds
(88.83mph) – some 1.2 seconds quicker than Jordan Williams’ previous best when
the Ginetta Juniors last visited Thruxton back in 2006.
Farndon finished in fourth position, Alex Austin raced very well from
eighth on the grid to finish fifth and Lloyd fought-back from an enforced lap
seven spin – which occurred as he was duelling for the final step on the podium
– to claim a top six result.
Simon Austin was seventh, Aaron Williamson eighth and Alice Powell ninth
having scythed her way through the field brilliantly from the last row of the
grid to gain a remarkable 11 places in total. Powell was forced to start at the
back for similar reasons to Hill after problems of her own.
The Ginetta Juniors will be back in action at approximately 12.55 tomorrow,
Sunday, 18th May, for the 10th round of the season.
In its regular slot on the support bill of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car
Championship, tomorrow’s nine-lap Ginetta Junior encounter is likely to benefit
from live television coverage on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel
ITV4 as part of the BTCC broadcast which begins at 12.30.
Provisional 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after
Rd9)
1st Dino Zamparelli, 285pts; 2nd Thomas Carnaby, 202pts; 3rd
Josh Hill, 167pts; 4th Daniel Lloyd, 161pts; 5th Jake Farndon, 150pts; 6th
Dominic Pettit, 142pts
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