Rockingham rocks for Jiggy!

A problem with the chassis in qualifying meant that James lapped the ultra impressive Rockingham circuit around half a second away from what he probably could have done. That said he still did a good job in the circumstances.



Such has been Jiggy’s pace in the BARC Formula Renault Championship, where he is currently dominating the Championship in his first year, he was chosen to make his maiden appearance with Scorpio Motorsport in the main 2003 Formula Renault Championship.

“He did well in the circumstances,” was how Gornall Snr explained James’ qualifying session, “because we found that he had a broken strut on the rear floor diffuser, which in turn, affected the aerodynamics and created understeer. The team also did not have any previous track data like the other drivers had, so James went into the session not knowing what to expect. He also found that qualifying was unlike the BARC series and trying to find the room for a clear lap was not quite as straightforward as expected. It was a good learning experience for him though.”

Indeed it was and although James perhaps expected more, his best time placed him 23rd on the grid, with a lap of 1:36.299s, which he set close to his final lap, when he found a relatively clear track. A more useful yardstick though was perhaps James’ more experienced teammate, David Epton, who was only four places ahead of him on the grid. James knows that to finish first, you first have to beat your teammate. He therefore had a target for the race.

With the liked of the well-established Formula Renault stars like Lewis Hamilton (Manor), James Rossiter (Fortec), Alex Lloyd (Motaworld), Tom Sisley (Eurotek) and Mike Spencer (Motaworld) ahead of him, Jiggy acknowledged that the going would be tough. Nevertheless, from his 23rd starting position he drove superbly, fighting his way up to 14th place, and beating his teammate in the process by three and a half seconds. But maybe the most important thing was not the manner in which he fought his way up to 14th place, but the fact that he was the only driver in the race to lap quicker than he had done in qualifying, lapping 0.222s faster..!

“Yeah, it was not too bad,” was Jiggy’s comments afterwards in his matter-of-fact self-deprecating humour. “I was getting quicker all the time and there was still plenty more to come from me. I did not make any mistakes and showed I can race well against the main Championship drivers who have more experience. It was a worthwhile experience and I’m glad that I was given the chance to do it.”

For now it is therefore back to the BARC series, quicker and wiser for the Rockingham experience, but still tough and difficult to beat, as his BARC rivals will find.