Rookie Rawles Atom Results

Rookie Rawles in the ENW Electrical Engineering Scholarship car had a weekend of results

A Pleasing results for Jack Rawles at Rockingham Motor Speedway

Saturday May 23rd and Sunday May 24th 2015

The 2015 ENW Electrical Engineering Atom Cup saw Ariel’s 245bhp cars head to Rockingham for Round 2, the first of two visits this year. Jack Rawles is not competing in every round of the 2015 challenge. He has managed to strike up an agreement with the Atom Cup organisers that will see him driving on an invitation basis. Jack’s first time out in the series sponsor ENW Electrical Engineering was in the first round, earlier this year, at Cadwell Park. Teenager, Jack Rawles, on his first time out in an Ariel Atom, managed to qualify on the front row and could have been a podium challenger, but a poor start meant he had to play catch up.

With three races scheduled over the weekend, close battles were to be expected through the field, especially in the reverse grid Race 3. Jack had no idea that he was taking place in this race weekend until he received a call at 5 O’clock on the Friday evening. Jack jumped at the chance to be back on track. He packed his bags and took himself off for a weekend in Northamptonshire.

Qualifying was very greasy and with no test day beforehand saw Jack thrown in at the deep end. For Race one, he placed the ENW Scholarship car into the 5th place spot on the grid. Jack said “I wasn’t happy with my qualifying position, I had some set up problems with the car, which were quickly sorted. At Rockingham your starting position isn’t critical as long as you’re in the top 5 leading out of the first hairpin is very possible”.

Bright, dry, dunny conditions for race one

The weather and track conditions for race one, on Saturday, were perfect. However, Jacks race start was far from perfect. He had a poor race one start. Not wanting to spin up the wheels like at Cadwell Park,he was too cautious on pulling away. This resulted in being  stuck in 5th position for the first lap. The race settled into a groove and Jack decided to start pushing forward, over taking 4th place and then 3rd a lap later. Jack continued to push and made a good move to slip into 2nd place, where he then pulled a gap from 3rd place. The early battling with Lee Cunningham and Jonathan Lek meant the lead car was able to pull a big gap. With the amount of time remaining for the race, it was impossible to catch the lead car, driven by Paul Donkin. Jack said “I knew I had to save the tyres for the 2nd and 3rd races, so a solid second place podium finish was a good way to start the weekend”. Jack picked up his first podium in only his second Atom Cup outing.

A very wet race two

Race two, on Sunday, looked to be dry until the cars entered the assembly area. The skies turned grey and as the cars made their way to the grid, the heavens opened. Having never driven an Atom in the wet Jack was a little apprehensive as to what the race would hold. This time round Jack made a good start and saw him stay in fourth position. Tactically, Jack sat behind the 3rd position car for a couple of laps, getting used to the conditions. As confidence built Jack stepped up the pace. The rain shower passed and the circuit was starting to dry out. In one lap Jack over took 3rd and 2nd place cars. This meant he could now hunt down the leader, which was again Paul Donkin. Jack was catching at a rate of around 1.2 to 1.4 seconds a lap. With  5 laps to go the 6 second gap was going to come down to the wire. A fantastic last lap from Donkin meant that Jack had to be content with another second place finish of the weekend. There was just 1.3 seconds split between 1st and 2nd position over the line. Jack was not only pleased with a podium position but also achieved fastest lap of the race.

Race Two looked to be dry until the cars entered the assembly area , when the heavens opened

Could Jack Rawles get another podium in race three?

The final race of the meeting was Jack Rawles best shot at a win. Race three’s reverse grid saw the fast starting Lyddell jumped by an even quicker Cunningham, and a four train rapidly developed as Donkin and Rawles looked for a way past. Jack said “I had a good start and a quick overtake which put me in 2nd place by the end of the first lap”. With just 1 tenth of a second between Lee Cunningham and Jack Rawles and just 1 second across the top 5 it was a very close race!. Jack said “there was a point in this race that I felt that I really could have won, especially when I took the lead. This excitement soon came to an end when on lap 4 another driver came into the corner behind me a little hot and hit me up the back, which disappointingly ended my race. I took home two second place positions and a fastest lap and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Hopefully I will get another chance to race in this championship this year”

To read the report on Motorsport Media please take a look at the article titled –  Donkin takes home the silverware but Rookie Rawles continues to impress

Jack Rawles next race date will be racing at MG Live 2015 at Silverstone on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June 2015. Sharing the MGB owned by Ivan Hayward.

Jack Rawles had a good weekend at Rockingham, pleased with two podium positions out of a possible three