Taylor (Elite Motorsport) headed into today’s action with a crucial overnight points lead after converting a double pole position into a pair of race wins on the opening day of action. You can read our recap of Saturday’s action by clicking here.
It was Taylor who looked set to top the timesheets in qualifying once again this morning, however with track conditions improving through the session it came down to the closing moments, with a superb last gasp effort securing Aston Millar (R Racing) his maiden Ginetta pole position.
Only 0.174s adrift was James Taylor, who took the race two pole on second fastest times, while Joel Pearson (R Racing), Zak Taylor (Alistair Rushforth Motorsport) and Bailey Voisin (R Racing) all lapped within a second of the pole position time as they completed the top five.
The opening race that afternoon started with a great launch off the line for James Taylor, which allowed him to storm into the lead around the outside of Millar at Paddock Hill Bend. For the first portion of the race Millar remained right on the tail of the leader.
As the laps ticked by though Taylor was able to start edging clear and he went on to take the victory by three seconds. Behind, a four-way battle for second place developed in the closing stages between Millar, Voisin, Pearson and Daniel Gale (TCR).
Voisin had made some good early progress to rise from fifth to third on the opening lap, and he soon started hunting down Millar. On lap 13 he was able to grab the position off his team-mate into Paddock, securing him a first podium finish of the weekend.
Millar made it three rookie wins in a row with third place overall, with Pearson and Gale in hot pursuit as they took the chequered flag. Zak Taylor completed the top six after passing Ben Kasperczak (Elite Motorsport) late on.
2020 Ginetta Junior Scholar Tom Lebbon (Elite Motorsport) had been enjoying a duel with Taylor for a large portion of the race. Fellow Scholarship finalist Tom Edgar (Douglas Motorsport) was ninth ahead of team-mate Freddie Tomlinson and William Aspin (Elite Motorsport).
As the sun set over Brands Hatch, the weekend finale started in an action-packed fashion as poleman James Taylor slipped to third off the line. Millar grabbed the race lead, however on the next lap a slick move from Zak Taylor put him to the front – both leading a Ginetta race for the first time.
Millar got back ahead on lap three with a bold move into Paddock Hill and held the advantage for a few laps, before James Taylor pulled off a similar dive down the inside for the lead. Pearson soon latched onto the leader’s tail and put him under immense pressure in the closing laps.
Taylor held him off to complete a clean sweep of the race wins and with it secure the 2019 Winter Series title. Pearson and Millar joined him on the final podium, with a fourth rookie win for the latter confirming him as the class champion for the weekend.
A late charge from Voisin almost secured him a second podium of the day, with just 0.089s separating him from Millar at the chequered flag, while Gale was close behind as well. Kasperczak rounded out the top six, with Zak Taylor slipping to seventh in the end.
Edgar put in a strong performance to finish eighth, while ninth for Lebbon confirmed him as the winner of the ‘Hard Charger’ award for gaining the most places from his grid positions across the weekend. Tomlinson and Aspin completed the finishers.
James Taylor: “I’m really happy to win all four races and take home the title. It got tougher and tougher every race and I had to work hard in the last one to get back through to the lead. It’s a perfect way to end my Ginetta Junior career and it’s a big confidence boost heading into 2020.”
Full results from the weekend can be found here: https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/194521
