Jessica Fitch-Hall Breaks Into the Top 10 at Donington Park
Three race weekends into my first season of car racing and we've achieved our first top-10 finish.
Donington Park was another big step forward for me and probably the clearest indication yet of the progress we've made since I first got behind the wheel of the car.
After starting the weekend with strong pace during Friday practice, I knew there was potential for a good result. By the end of the weekend, we'd turned that pace into a P10 finish.
Finding the Pace at Donington Park
Friday gave us the opportunity to get some important track time before qualifying and I quickly started to find good pace around Donington.
At this stage of my first car racing season, every lap is still valuable. I'm learning more about the car, how to get the most from it and how to adapt my driving to different circuits and conditions.
After making my debut at Brands Hatch and then continuing that progression at Silverstone GP, Donington felt like another step forward.
The pace was beginning to show. Now we needed to turn it into race results.
Wet Qualifying – Starting P17
Saturday brought wet conditions for qualifying.
With 23 drivers on the grid, I qualified P17.
Thankfully, despite rain being forecast for much of the weekend, the remaining races stayed dry.
Starting from P17 meant there was plenty of work to do, but it also gave me an opportunity to race, battle and continue building the experience that is so important during my first season in cars.
Race One – P17 to P16
I started Race One from P17 and managed to move forward to finish P16.
It was another opportunity to put Friday's practice into use and continue understanding where we had pace compared with the cars around us.
One position gained – and another race worth of experience.
Race Two – P16 to P15
Race Two continued the pattern.
Starting P16, I moved forward again to finish P15.
More importantly, the pace we'd seen during Friday practice was becoming increasingly clear.
There were some great battles and overtakes throughout the weekend and I was becoming more confident racing closely with the other drivers.
Then came the final.
The Final – P15 to P9
Starting from P15, I knew there was an opportunity to move forward.
And we did.
After plenty of battles and overtakes, I crossed the line in P9 – gaining five positions and securing my first top-10 result in car racing.
To achieve that on only my third race weekend in a car was a brilliant feeling.
Brands Hatch was about experiencing everything for the first time. Silverstone was about building on that experience and finding more performance.
At Donington, it felt like we were beginning to put everything together.
Race One: P17 → P16
Race Two: P16 → P15
Final: P15 → P9
Every time we went racing, we moved forward.
Progress in My First Car Racing Season
The biggest thing I'm taking away from Donington is the progress.
Moving from karting into car racing was always going to involve a huge amount of learning. I'm still at the very beginning of that journey, but weekends like Donington show just how much we are developing.
As a female racing driver competing in UK motorsport, I want to keep pushing myself, learning from the people around me and seeing just how far we can progress throughout the season.
There is still plenty more pace to find.
Thank You to My Team and Sponsors
A massive thank you to TenSport Performance for another brilliant weekend and especially to Alex, who was on the spanners and kept everything running throughout the event.
Thank you as well to everyone who watched the livestream and supported us from afar. It's brilliant knowing there are people following the journey even when they can't be there trackside.
And, as always, none of this would be possible without the continued support of my sponsors:
EBC Brakes
PortmanDentex
KDA Dental Recruitment
Forever Callie Media
Sunrise Technologies
Three race weekends.
Three completely different circuits.
And now, our first top-10 finish.
Donington Park was a good one.