DONINGTON VICTORIES EXTEND MORRIS’ SUPERB WINNING STREAK

(Photos Jacob Ebrey)
Ginetta Junior Championship prodigy Seb Morris continued his hugely impressive start to the 2011 season at Donington Park over the weekend, 16th/17th April, by securing his third and fourth wins in as many races.

Departing the Leicestershire venue with a lead of more than 50 points in the driver standings, the Liberty Properties Plc and Legat Owen-supported racer remains undefeated in the current campaign and is looking every bit a potential title winner even at this early stage of the season.

With just one full year of car racing experience under his belt, 15-year-old Seb has quickly emerged as one of the UK’s top young drivers. With two pole position starts and a new Donington Park lap record to add to his brace of wins this weekend, he was rightly delighted.

“It’s obviously fantastic to win both races again, it’s just the start to the championship we wanted”, he commented, “The first race was quite straightforward so the win in race two was more special as I was under a lot of pressure throughout. It was very hot out there, the tyres were really starting to feel the heat and the brakes were getting really hot too so it was hard to hold on and keep the others behind. I enjoyed it a lot more though, that win definitely felt a lot sweeter as we really had to work hard. We need to make sure we keep this level of performance up now for the next event.”
The build-up to the weekend went well for Seb and his Hillspeed team with the quickest time during testing on Friday, half a second to the good over his closest challenger, and then the all-important double pole position in qualifying on Saturday.

Round three, on Saturday afternoon, began well and the GCSE pupil from The King’s School, Chester, immediately set about establishing a significant advantage. Into lap two his lead was 1.6 seconds, the next time across the start/finish line the gap was up to 2.3 seconds but then the Safety Car was deployed on the fourth tour due to a couple of stranded cars in the gravel at the chicane.

At the re-start on lap seven, Seb made a good break and gradually edged away to eventually win by over two seconds. His lead was more like three seconds as the race neared its conclusion, having set a new lap record of 1m23.875 seconds (84.94mph), but the action was red flagged due to another car off at the chicane and so the result was declared from lap 11.

Getting away well from the front of the grid again in round four on Sunday – which was broadcast live across the UK on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4, and ITV4 HD – the Welsh born youngster was put under the microscope a bit more by his rivals.

Even though the pressure was much greater than in the first race, and with the warm temperature at Donington causing some grip issues with the tyres, Seb still managed to fend off the chasing pack and delivered a calm, assured performance to take win number four by just 0.285 seconds.

Next on the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship schedule is a visit to the fastest circuit on the calendar, Thruxton in Hampshire, a fortnight from now over the weekend 30th April/1st May.

Provisional 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship Driver Standings (after Rd4):
1st Seb Morris, 144pts

report by Marc Orme at Marc Orme Media & PR

More information available at www.sebmorris.com http://www.sebmorris.com

Seb Morris is sponsored by Liberty Properties Plc and Legat Owen

Marc Orme at Marc Orme Media & PR on +44 (0)7920 886985, via email to marcorme1@aol.com or through http://www.marc-orme.co.uk