Fielding Saves His Best Until Last

Tuesday 18 October 2011


Chesterfield’s teenage motor racing star Sennan Fielding recorded his first victory of 2011 at the season finale of the Ginetta Junior Championship at Silverstone last weekend.
After achieving a front row start last time out at Brands Hatch and having lead a race for a number of laps, Sennan was hoping to go one step further and close out his first victory and get back on the top step of the podium – a place he was well acquainted with throughout his karting years.
Whilst the majority of his competitors having tested on Wednesday and Thursday on the Silverstone National circuit in Northamptonshire, Sennan arrived on Friday for the two practice sessions and got straight back into the groove, working with his team to find the best setup for qualifying on Saturday.

Qualifying was extremely close for round 19 of the championship with all but two cars on the grid being separated by less than one second. With a lap time of 1min 10seconds, Sennan would line up 5th on the grid, alongside newly crowned champion Seb Morris, and the youngster from Chesterfield was eager to show the paddock that he could mix it with the best.

As the lights turned green at Silverstone for race 1, Sennan got a great start and slotted in to P3 with Niall Murray and Seb Morris occupying 1st and 2nd places respectively. After just 5 laps of the race, the three leaders broke clear of the chasing pack.

After plenty of jostling for position, the 3 drivers began their penultimate lap and Sennan decided that it was time to make his move. Whilst Murray and Morris were defending their line going into the tight Maggots corner, Sennan took a wide line to get a better exist and drove past both Murray and Morris going into Brooklands corner to begin the final lap of the race in 1st position. Despite the best efforts of those behind him, Sennan defended his position fantastically for the duration of the lap and crossed the finish line just over 1 tenth of a second in front of 2nd place man Niall Murray to take his maiden victory.

“We did it!” said a delighted Fielding. “We’ve been knocking on the door for the last few races and we’ve finally got our reward. We’ve scored fastest laps, front row starts and now my first race victory outside of karts. I will remember this win forever”.

The victory capped off what was a great learning year for Sennan and he is extremely excited about the future. “I had a huge amount to learn this season and step-by-step we made progress and got closer and closer to the front. Next season I am hoping to move into single-seater racing and after the grounding I have got from Ginetta Juniors, I feel well equipped for my next challenge” said an excited Fielding.

Whilst the 2011 season has finished, all attention now turns to winter testing where Sennan is looking to get in the necessary preparation so he can race for the championship in whatever he competes in 2012.