Car issues hinder Seb’s progression

MOTOR RACING PAUL HORTON

MACCLESFIELD’S Seb Perez was back on track again last week testing his Ginetta G40 race car at Donington Park ready for this weekend’s three races at the Leicestershire circuit after car problems for the start of his season.

Perez, the 16-yearold student from Kings School in Macclesfield, was in competition the week before at Brands Hatch for the first time this season in the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship, which is contested by 14 to 17 year-old racers.

In his second season and first round of the championship he showed tremendous determination from the start of the race weekend as if he hadn’t been away from the car over the winter break.

The Chesterfieldbased teenager and son of the 2014 BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion Steve Perez was racing at the high-speed Indy Circuit track for the first time in a fiercely competitive field of 23 cars, and support race to the ever popular Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Televised live on ITV 4, his talent was televised to audiences across the UK and further afield across Europe.

Seb’s weekend started on Saturday with a good free practice session. Finishing 13th fastest with a top speed of 81.9 mph, only half a second splitting the top 16 cars, he knew the weekend was going to be tough.

Qualifying for race one was somewhat a slower affair for Perez, finishing in 17th position after having some brake issues which affected the car’s performance.

He recorded a time of 57.696 seconds with a speed of 75.37mph.

A strong drive in qualifying put Seb on the ninth row of the grid for a cloudy but dry track for race one and 14 laps. After a mid race safety car period following a racing incident at Paddock Hill, Perez pulled out all the stops.

Despite still having some mechanical issues on the car, he produced a clean, hard race which saw him rise through the ranks to finish in 11th position 12.272 seconds behind race winner William Tregurtha, with a top speed of 67.95mph on lap nine.

Driving for his team JHR Developments, Perez again knew that race two would be no breeze and he was still having problems with the car that his hard-worked race team were trying their best to get things sorted.

He started the race from sixth row on the grid and 11th car alongside rookie driver Enzo Fittipaldi.

Race two was even closer than the opening round with places changing all the while, not only between the top three drivers but all over the field and Perez made it to the chequered flag in 10th place, 8.666 seconds behind first placed Ginetta of Stuart Middleton.

It was a disappointing two opening races for Perez in his Ginetta due to brake and engine problems, but there is still a long way to go to the end of the season in 23 races time at the beginning of October.

After extensive testing at Donington Park last Thursday the car was performing better. Perez said: “After a Tricky weekend at Brands. Brake issues in Qualifying and missing a bit of pace over the weekend I’m Looking forward to Donington Park this weekend, I tested at Donington last week with some good times in dry and wet conditions. A lot of work has been put into the car since by JHR Developments.”

Perez is all ready for the next round of the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship this weekend at Donington Park, Leicestershire.