After a short summer break that proceeded the rain soaked race at croft, the Wera Alliance Team headed to home soil in Northampton to be greeted with glorious sunshine at the iconic Silverstone Circuit for round 5 of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship.
Team mates Jenson Mason, and Alfie Garford were rearing to go and spent Friday testing dialling in the cars at practicing qualifying runs ahead of Saturday’s qualy session, and all was looking very good.
With the sun still shinning the 2 cars rolled out Saturday morning to put the pace to the test and see where they would sit on the qualifying table. Unfortunately they didn’t find each other on track and had to spend all session pushing the air out the way and not benefit from a draft unlike the opposition teams. Even though this was the case, the duo finished a respectable 4th and 9th on the 21 car strong grid. Due to an error from Mason, he would have to start race 1 for the back.
They would now have 3 races over the course of the weekend, Jenson would have to try and claw back from dead last on the grid, and Alfie would need to stay consistent at the front end to recover some points for the championship.
And that’s exactly how it unfolded. Jenson made a tremendous effort in race 1 and climbed up 16 places to 6th place! Whilst Alfie maintained his pace to fit for positions with the lead quartet and finished 4th!
Race 2 played out similar with both boys enjoying good pace and clean scraps. Garford improved 1 place to finish 3rd, whilst Mason lost a couple positions to 8th by the end of the race.
The main race was now upon us. Alfie Garford in 3rd and Jenson Mason in 8th. Lights out and away the went, Mason producing a fantastic opener to move up to5th by the end of the 1st lap and Garford stayed in 3rd. Mason was now back with the lead pack and got behind Garford which enabled them to work together. And work together they did! By lap 6 the Wera Alliance team mates found themselves in 1st and 2nd places! There they stayed for lap after lap. Garford slowly extending the lead and Mason becoming under pressure from 3rd place. A tremendous effort and skill kept 3rd behind lap after lap but was able to slip though on the drag to the line on the last lap, but Mason took an excellent 3rd.
Garford however had been able to extend his lead with the scrap behind and fist in air took the chequered flag to the roar of the crowd.
The Pair showed they are now a consistent force to be reckoned with and will head to the ultra-fast Thruxton circuit in September full of confidence for more wins.
Pete Osborne Alliance Team Principal said after the race ‘I’m over the moon for the boys, they dug deep this weekend and it’s payed of for them. This is exactly why we have the academy! We really wanted the 1-2 but the way Jenson drove to try and hold of 3rd, it feels like a 1-2 anyway. Helping Alfie get his maiden car race win makes it all worth it, and we are all ready for lots more to come.
A jubilant Alfie Garford interviewed on the podium said ‘it’s the first car win, I’m sure there will be plenty more to come. This weekend’s been a learning curve for myself and hopefully we will carry on with what’s been learnt. I’m not sure where I am in the ‘Silverstone championship’ but I imagine I’m not too far off. The team have done a fabulous job, WeraTools, Nextbase, Tool maniacs, Napa everyone that’s a part of this, they just put so much work in to it and its amazing we can both bring home brilliant results for them. So thank you.
