BY MARTIN WALSH
BALLYLICKEY teenager Colin Cronin secured his first-ever circuit racing victory when he won Saturday’s first race of the Ginetta Junior Championship in Donington Park.
In a rain-lashed qualifying session Cronin produced one of his best performances of the season and put his Fox Motorsport car in P3. Watching the leading pair dice closely over the opening few laps, Cronin played the patient game and when the pair collided, he was in the perfect position to take advantage. He held the lead for the majority of the rest of the race and defended his position well.
Ballylickey’s Colin Cronin won his first ever motor race last weeeknd in the Ginetta Junior Championship.
However, one of his rivals seemed intent on giving him an uneasy time and he cut the chicane on the final lap to edge ahead of Cronin and was first past the chequered flag. However, race officials deemed the move to be contrary to the rules and reversed the positions thus giving Cronin his first victory.
In the second race Cronin took a Rookie podium and fifth overall. In the final race of the weekend he was spun into the gravel before climbing back from last to finish tenth. The championship concludes on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on September 28th-29th next.
Cronin’s success allied to Welsh ace Mckenzie Douglass clinching the Protyre Ginetta GT Championship on Sunday proved to be one of the best weekends for many years for the Fox Motorsport team that is based from Maldon, Essex.
‘It feels great to be a Ginetta Junior race winner. We signed with Fox so close to the start of the season that we had basically no testing before the Oulton Park opening round so we were behind where a lot of other drivers were with the starting point,’ Colin said.
‘But things have just built and built and the team have worked so hard to help me build up my speed and experience and here we are. Even though I crossed the line second, I kind of knew they (race officials) wouldn’t let the result stand because you can’t overtake someone by cutting a corner, even though the other guy had nowhere else to go. The team said the same when I got out of the car. When we got the trophy it felt great. I’m very happy.’
Team principal Paul McNeilly said, ‘I’m so proud of the whole team right now. For Colin to go from a tough weekend at Silverstone to scoring his first win here is just incredible, but he fully deserved it. The way he absorbed the pressure towards the end of the race was so mature for a driver still in his first full year of racing.’
