This weekend saw the Fiesta Junior Championship 2015 at Rockingham as part of the BRSCC event there. For those not familiar with the championship, it includes drivers aged between 14 and 17 racing Ford Fiestas. You can often judge the success of a series like this by its alumni, and in the case of the Fiesta Junior Championship, there are plenty of recent graduates like Rory Collingbourne who have made their way to the Clio Cup – in fact, quite a number of the 2015 Clio field have come from Fiesta Junior – as well as Aiden Moffat who is now driving in BTCC.
I was watching the drivers form up in the assembly area for the first race of the day.
The drivers headed off to the grid, where Michael Higgs, Ronan Quinn and Carlito Miracco took the top three positions. The race started, and there was plenty of action on the track as the drivers fought for position.
Carlito moved quickly through and took the two positions in front of him from Ronan and Michael, to lead the race, the third in a row that he had seen from the front of the pack after his double win at Silverstone.
The pit lane saw some action during the race.
Carlito held on to take the win and add a third successive victory to what is quickly becoming an impressive second half of the season.
The cars made their way back to scruitineering for the regulation checks, and the drivers shared stories of their exploits.
Later in the day, the second race started with the various drivers and cars making their way back to the assembly area.
This time, Carlito was starting on pole. Could he make it four wins in a row?
Carlito was slow off the start and was passed, and soon found himself further down the pack. Meanwhile, Aaron Thompson, who had started the season so impressively, made his way in the other direction.
Michael Higgs was ahead of both of them on the track, and the top few places were changing hands frequently during the race.
Soon, Aaron Thompson was leading the field, with Nathan Edwards in third behind Michael, then Carlito, Ronan Quinn and Cameron Pugh taking the subsequent places.
Carlito started to move forward again through the field, fighting through the places, as Michael Higgs retook second place. Soon, Carlito was passing Nathan for third.
Carlito then passed Michael for second. An exciting race looked like it might have an exiting finish, as he closed on Aaron for the lead, but ran wide on the last lap putting him back down the order. Aaron continued to lead, and took the chequered flag, delighted to return himself to the top step of the podium.
Another great weekend from the Fiesta Junior drivers, many of whom no doubt have impressive careers ahead in motor sport. The series has one weekend left at Brands Hatch before the 2015 championship is completed. Good luck to them all.
