We have been closely following Third Year racer Liam McNeilly’s Formula One dreams and now this ambitious young driver has found himself under the newspaper spotlight. A big thank you to Andrew Franczak and the Brentwood Gazette for sharing their back page lead story as Liam takes the giant step from karting to the Ginetta Junior Championship:
AN ESSEX teenager who is still too young to have a driving licence is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Formula One star Lando Norris after being given a seat with Fox Motorsport in this season’s Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship.
Brentwood-based Liam McNeilly is set to make his circuit racing debut with the team from Maldon, Essex. He will only become eligible to compete when he turns 14 in April, and will use the newly-adjusted start point to the season to his advantage to make his first outing as soon as possible.
Liam, the son of Fox Motorsport founder and team principal Paul McNeilly, has a strong background in UK and European karting. He first raced a kart aged five in 2011 and competed in various local and national series on his way to joining the prestigious Zip factory team.
Last year he competed in the FIA World and European Championships in the highly-competitive OKJ category and also played a starring role in both the IAME X30 European and Benelux Championships.
Fighting for every inch of asphalt against 60 of the world’s most talented Formula One hopefuls, he finished 15th overall, and added an impressive fourth spot in the hotly-contested Benelux series with two podiums.
Fox Motorsport previously competed in Ginetta Juniors in 2017 with a two-car, all-rookie line-up. Liam said: “I’m thrilled to be stepping up from karting into the Ginetta Junior Championship.
“This is the path that Lando Norris followed earlier in his career and he’s now in Formula One, so it’s pretty clear what opportunities could be available to any drivers who do well in this series.
“My first time in the car was a bit of an eye-opener, but the team have been patient with me as I’ve got to grips with the way it drives and I’m excited to race it.
“Not turning 14 for another month means I was supposed to miss the first two rounds, but with the UK motor sport season having now been pushed back to a May start at the earliest, I’ll now start on a more equal footing with everyone else.
“I haven’t set any hard targets for this year beyond learning and developing my driving, but I certainly have everything around me to do this well.”
Liam was driving the Ginetta Junior car for only the third time — and the first time on a proper circuit - during closed testing at the Northampton track last Thursday. Because he was 13 he had to - by regulation - carry an instructor at all times a penalty of around 80kg (in a 830kg car), which adds up to about one second per lap. No other driver had to have a coach in their car.
He was 16th overall on the day and 11-best rookie. Over the course of the day he closed on the times set by the leading rookie by more than one second.
Liam said: “The day went according to plan, although with a mixture of damp, wet and then later dry conditions, there was a lot to learn, especially as I’d never driven the car on the National Circuit before.
“It was only my third time in the car full-stop, and I had to have Jamie [Stanley], my driver coach, alongside me because I’m not 14 yet, so the extra weight is probably worth about a second a lap.
“Without that, I’d have been right in the middle of the pack, so I’m pretty pleased. Also, you never know what other teams are doing in testing, so it’s best just to focus on your own plan and learn as much as you can.
“The plan was just to keep our heads down and work out the small-detail improvements we need to make. I’m learning every time I get in the car so I know I’ll improve a lot across the year.”
Fox Motorsport will run campaigns in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, G55 Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2020, creating a stairway to the top of GT racing for drivers, like Liam, with ambitions to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
His father, Paul, said: “I’m very pleased to bring Fox Motorsport back to Ginetta Juniors. We learnt a lot during the 2017 season and the car specification is near-identical so we’re not coming in completely blind.
“Liam will be the least experienced driver on the grid, so the key will be not to run before he can walk, and to take this 2020 campaign to develop as much as possible and learn about how a racing car feels and how to make it do what you want on-track.
“He has huge potential so I’m excited to watch his development as the season goes on.”
The Ginetta Junior Championship was due to start at Thruxton on May 16-17 but on Tuesday Motorsport UK suspended all race meetings until the end of June. Further races were scheduled for Snetterton (July 25-26), Croft (August 15-16), Knockhill (August 29-30) and Silverstone International (September 26-27).
All events are British Touring Car Championship support rounds.
