McNeilly makes it two from two

Liam McNeilly dominates the second Ginetta Junior race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

The Fox Motorsport driver was more than four seconds clear of the rest of the field as he took his second win of the season.

There was drama behind as an eight way battle emerged for the final podium position.

McNeilly got the best start off the line and was comfortably ahead of Aqil Alibhai when the safety car was brought out at the end of lap one. Alisha Palmowski had been battling with Mckenzie Douglass when the two came together and Palmowski was sent into the gravel at Surtees.

The incident brought Alibhai back onto McNeilly’s tail but he couldn’t challenge the Fox Motorsport driver on the restart.

Instead, McNeilly pulled away from the rest of the field and set the fastest lap of the race on the way to the chequered flag, 4.746s clear of P2.

Alibhai spent most of the race in second, trying to hold off an ever changing train if cars behind him. Team-mate Will Macintyre was third, with Luke Watts close behind.

Watts managed to find a way past his team-mate and was significantly quicker in clear air. Macintyre sped away from the battle and was eight seconds clear of third at the chequered flag.

Meanwhile Alibhai couldn’t close the door fast enough to stop Watts coming through. The battle allowed Harri Reynolds to close in on the pair, briefly making it a three way fight for third. Before long, Kenato Le, Joe Warhurst, Freddie Slater, Maurice Henry and Zak Meakin had joined the train of drivers behind.

Alibhai was shuffled backwards by a wide moment while contact with another driver left Watts with a loose bonnet. Despite the bonnet lifting under braking, Watts held onto third. Wadhurst managed to storm through to fourth and was just 0.118s behind Watts when they took the chequered flag.

P3 meant Watts claimed his first overall podium of 2022.

Alibhai recovered to fifth ahead of a close battle between Reynolds, Slater and Le. The trio came together but all managed to continue in the fight. Slater emerged on top with Le finishing just ahead of Reynolds.

Henry took ninth ahead of Meakin and Luca Hopkinson, who was the final driver in the train behind Watts.

Full results to follow

Image credit: Ginetta/Jakob Ebrey Photography

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