SID SMITH’S SUPER SEASON

From the outset, the two main championship contenders set their stalls out at the opening rounds at Brands Hatch.Sid Smith romped away to a dominant 13 second victory from newcomer Thomas Jack Lee and Jake Maynard on the podium, while Lee then went one better to pick up his first Fiesta Junior win on his debut weekend with Smith and Deagen Fairclough rounding off the top three.

Smith then set about mounting a charge with a pair of wins at the next rounds at Croft, enjoying another comfortable race one win while Lee was disqualified, before being chased by rookie Luke Hilton in his first podium with second and Albert Webster in third, the latter only losing the place in the final laps.

The second ever visit to Oulton Park only produced one of the scheduled two races after lengthy incidents elsewhere in the timetable forced race two to be postponed. For the race that did take place, Lee was declared the winner in a severely shortened race due to a red flag with Webster in second and Daniel Lewis clinching his first podium in the process. The scheduled triple header at Snetterton produced an awesome fightback in the championship battle from Lee as he dominated all three races to claim a hat-trick, while Smith had to overcome disqualification in qualifying on a technicality, leaving him with sixth, fifth and second for his troubles. Webster came agonisingly close to a first victory more than once on this weekend, especially in race three when last lap passes from Lee and Smith dropped him to third. Both Archie Handy and George Foxlow also took maiden podiums on this weekend too.

Cadwell Park allowed Smith to return serve against Lee as across all three races (including the replacement race for the one lost at Oulton Park), he was untouchable once again. He was particularly helped by team-mates Lee and Webster colliding with each other in race one, putting both out on the spot and losing them vital points. Both rebounded with podiums in the remaining two races that weekend, swapping second and third between them, while more first time podium visits went the way of both Ben Mulryan and JamSport Scholarship winner Lucas Hayden, further cementing the season’s competitive field.

A first time visit to Knockhill was next, with both directions used over the weekend in another unique challenge for the juniors to tame. This would be another commanding triple for Thomas Jack Lee as he clambered for more points to keep in touch with leader Smith in the title fight, and came away with another three wins to increase his tally. Smith, Mulryan and Webster would also claim silverware in Scotland as the showdown for the FJC title boiled down to just three more races.

The Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch was again the setting to decide the championship, and while Lee did pick up one final win for the season, he wouldn’t be the star of the show. Luke Hilton found a superb turn of pace in changeable weather conditions to take his first two Fiesta Junior wins, but all Smith needed was three podiums to become the latest young star to write his name into the Fiesta Junior hall of fame as 2022 champion. Lee finished up runner up as well as top rookie for the season, while Webster completed his final junior year in third place.

As for the new next-gen Mk7 class, three drivers lined up on the grid in one of the new cars throughout 2022, with Aaron Walker and guest driver Connor Duncan both bookending the season at both Brands Hatch meetings with a weekend each. The entire season was contested by Harry England who became the first Mk7 class champion and he will want to carry this momentum into 2023.

Next season is looking set to be the biggest and most exciting Fiesta Junior season ever, with new status as the official junior support series to TCR UK along with new teams, a host of new drivers and numbers for the new Mk7 cars set to reach double figures. If there’s one BRSCC championship to watch in 2023, Fiesta Juniors might just be an absolute gem!

According to Scott Woodwiss, the BRSCC is all about pioneering new series and championships and evolving its roster of formulae, and the Club is never afraid to try new ideas and concepts. The success of the ClubSport Trophy’s 45-minute mini-endurance series subsequently spawned interest and requests for longer races but with the same concept of ClubSport and the desire for a wider range of cars to take part. Work behind the scenes began to create a sister series to ClubSport and after months of discussion, it was decided to introduce the brand new BRSCC SuperSport Endurance Cup.