Fiesta Junior Sid Smith joins Fox Motorsport

Fiesta Junior championship leader Sid Smith will join the Ginetta Junior championship for the final two rounds of the 2022 season.

Smith joins Fox Motorsport, bringing the Essex based team back up to three cars for Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

16-year-old Smith has spent the past three years racing in the Fiesta Junior championship. He took a victory in his second season and has dominated the 2022 championship.

He hopes to get up to speed quickly in Ginettas, and believes Fox Motorsport is the best team to do that with.

“I can’t wait to make my Ginetta Junior debut,” he said.

“I’ve been to a few races this year and watched the rest of the season on TV, and it’s clear that it’s the highest-level series in the UK for the age group. You only have to look at the names of some of the drivers that have started in Juniors – Lando Norris being the best known – to see that.

“Fox Motorsport are a local team to me, but also, I think, the best-run team in the series and having now spent a bit of time with them it’s clear how much quality there is running through the team, from drivers like Liam [McNeilly] and Maurice [Henry] through to the coaches, mechanics, everyone…

“The Ginetta is a bit different to what I’m used to with rear-wheel-drive and a sequential gearbox, but the team have helped me get up-to-speed quickly in the few tests I’ve done and I’m targeting a Rookie podium before the end of the year.”

Fox Motorsport currently lie third in the team’s standings. After a strong 2021, in which Liam McNeilly finished second in the championship, the team took a few rounds to get to grips with the new qualifying system. McNeilly currently lies third in the championship standings, with Maurice Henry in P10.

“We’re very pleased to bring Sid into the team,” said Fox team principal Paul McNeilly. “He’s a local lad so it’s an indication of the growing reputation of Fox Motorsport in Ginetta Ju8niors that he’s chosen us for his debut in the series.

“His form in Fiesta Juniors has been exceptional this year, so while we’ve had to work quickly in getting him used to the rear-wheel-drive Ginetta, his racecraft is more highly-developed than many of the drivers in the series. With the kind of slipstreaming racing we normally get at Silverstone, this means he could well surprise a lot of the series regulars with the results he’s able to achieve.”

Smith has already tested in the Ginetta car at Brands Hatch and will make his debut in the series this weekend at Silvertstone.

Image credit: Fox Motorsport/Gary Hawkins