Student Wins Again to Surge into Ginetta Junior Points Lead

Brentwood School racer Liam McNeilly and Fox Motorsport claimed a stunning Ginetta Junior Championship victory at Oulton Park last Sunday to surge to the top of the points table for the first time.
 
The 15-year-old from Brentwood was in sensational form on race day as he stormed through from eighth on the grid to win for the second time in 2021 and take a decisive series lead, while his rookie team-mate Maurice Henry enjoyed his best result of the year too.
 
Liam’s victory was remarkable, given he and Maurice had not been tested during the five-week break between Brands Hatch and Oulton, putting the pair at an immediate disadvantage to their key rivals during Friday testing.
 
Cutting a near two-second deficit from testing to qualify just 0.6s off the pace, Liam made an excellent start, and was up to third by the time the race was stopped for several minutes after an ‘off’ for another competitor.
 
Cunningly making his way to the front as others made mistakes, he then resisted immense pressure from a train of cars behind him for the final two laps; the top six covered by one second.
 
Not only did that move him into an 18-point championship lead; it also elevated Fox Motorsport, from Maldon, Essex, into third in the Team points.

Sunday’s scheduled finale was postponed due to severe delays in the timetable caused by the sheer number of red flags shown in many of the day's other races. It is likely to instead be run at the upcoming Knockhill weekend on 15th and 16th August.

Liam McNeilly said: “It feels amazing to win again - even better than I felt after the first win at Snetterton. After not qualifying up where I’d hoped to be, I knew I was going to have to fight for this one. As it turned out, I was able to get to the front by taking advantage of some of the other guys making mistakes and moving themselves out of the way, but once I was there, I felt under quite a bit of pressure to defend the lead. I think the racecraft I learnt across 2020 has really helped me deal with situations like that pretty well.”