Snetterton memories for Perez
Perez travels to Snetterton this weekend for his next attack in the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship.
After a six week Summer break the ever popular race series that supports the British Touring Car Championship is back in Norfolk and Perez hopes to continue where he left off after the twelve opening races of the season
He has had a well earn’t break and holiday but has been back on track in practice and ready for this coming weekend, as well as keeping fit and analysing his data and viewing footage from his previous races.
Last week saw him practising at Snetterton for the second time in a month showing what his JHR Developments Ginetta G40 race car was made of with some fantastic times, only a few weeks ago he was second fastest in the morning session at the circuit.
Perez’s first half of the season has seen a mixture of highs and lows. He has been placed well in mid field in most races for the season so far.
It all started in April at Brands Hatch with a disappointing two opening races for Perez due to brake and engine problems, finishing 11th and 10th, he moved to Donington Park a couple of weeks later that saw him retired after being punted off track in the second race finishing 11th in race one and 16th in race 3.
He moved onto Thruxton in Hampshire at the beginning of May where Seb outrun every other driver on the circuit in qualifying, taking fastest lap and to take his maiden pole position in the championship by one thousandth of a second. Things didn’t go to plan in race one getting blacked flagged and an 18th position finish and did not finish race two after retiring after a shunt.
After a month’s break Oulton Park in Cheshire was the next stop for Perez and after race one he commented ” this was my best race I have ever driven” he finished fourth just missing out on the podium, race two he finished 12th.
Before the summer break, 6 weeks ago Perez was in the driving seat again at Croft Circuit North Yorkshire where he competed in three races in the series, only the second 3 race weekend of the season to date and always a challenge both to car and driver.
Qualifying went well with a first lap flyer only to get a time disallowed on lap 3 for exceeding track limits before returning to pole for 4 laps. finishing in 4th position on 1:40.159s and a top speed of 76.37mph.
Seb commented “the car ran well, this is the only second weekend with 3 races and is always more demanding”
A second row place was reserved for Seb in race one and once the lights went out he had a good start but by turn two the grid got closed up after Wooder and Tregurtha made contact with each other, Perez battled to tenth but got spun on lap 6 and got knocked back to 18th position in the field where he finished the race.
Race two saw him line up in 18th on the grid and take the chequered flag after 8 laps in 11th position.
After the race Perez said ” I am happy with the result, the car was faultless Croft is a technical circuit and need to push the car and think about position, an extra race can be used to advantage”
Race three saw Seb on 6th row alongside Enzo Fittipaldi, the 14 year old grandson of famous F1 driver Emerson. again a great start where he pushed up to fourth only to loose out on a few places and finish a very respectable 7th place.
He commented ” The weekend has gone well, there was a tyre wear issue and we made the most of the moment” he added ” JHR Developments have done a great job with the car”
He added “I’m looking forward to getting to Snetterton, it’s a special circuit to me it was where I got my first ever podium in the Winter Series two years ago”
With five rounds to go Perez comes to Snetterton in 16th position with 94 points and his team JHR Developments who run 7 cars in Championship are in third place with 458 points.
You can follow Seb and all the action on Sunday on ITV 4 where his races are screened.
Editorial and Images by Paul Horton Motorsport Photography
