Foster claims two wins in one weekend

Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey

 

Rising star Louis Foster enjoyed a near perfect weekend on track at Rockingham with two wins out of three during the latest rounds of the Ginetta Junior Championship season.

 

The 15-year-old Lord Wandsworth College student from Odiham headed for the Corby circuit keen to challenge for victories having missed out on a win due to an unfortunate on-track incident last time out at Snetterton - where he was still able to salvage two podium finishes.

 

Having shown solid pace during Friday testing, Louis went into the weekend in confident mood and posted the sixth quickest time in a tightly-fought qualifying session where the top 13 drivers were covered by less than a second.

 

Making the most of contact between two of the drivers ahead at the Deene Hairpin on lap one, Louis quickly moved into the podium positions and then set about finding a way ahead of team-mate Fin Green into second.

 

Once behind leader Patrick Kibble, Louis didn't take long to make his move and then saw off the challenge of his rival to secure a second overall victory of the campaign.

 

 

Race Two

 

Starting third on the grid for race two - decided by driver's second best laps in qualifying - Louis jumped into the lead of the race on the opening lap with a fine move at Tarzan and headed the opening two laps before Green managed to find a way back ahead.

 

Biding his time, Louis then reclaimed top spot with another move at Tarzan and this time would remain out front to the finish to grab a second victory of the weekend at the wheel of his Elite Motorsport-run car.

 

Heavy rain just ahead of the final race of the weekend threw a new challenge into the mix, with Louis taking his place on the front row ready for the start.

 

Slipping behind fellow front row starter Luke Browning when the lights went out, Louis kept the leader honest throughout the ten lap encounter but was unable to find a way through and elected to settle for second spot.

 

 

Three podiums, three rookie wins, third place

 

As well as three overall podium finishes, that gave Louis three rookie wins from the weekend and he heads away from Rockingham sitting third in the championship standings.

 

"I've had some bad luck in recent events that have cost me the chance to take victory, so it was great that things went my way," he said. "I certainly didn't make it easy for myself after qualifying but I knew that we could pick up some strong results from sixth on the grid given the pace that we had in the car.

 

"We saw in the first race how quickly things can turn and to get to the end of Saturday having taken back-to-back wins was great. It would have been nice to get a hat-trick in race three, but Luke got the better start in tricky conditions and even when I closed in on him, it was going to be tough to find a way through and I decided to settle for second and a good haul of points.

 

"Three rookie wins is good and strengthens my position there, but it's also been a good weekend in terms of the overall standings. I have to give thanks to everyone in the team, and particularly my mechanic James, for giving me such a good car and I'm delighted to bring home some strong results for them."