After travelling up to North Wales from Whilton Mill on the Saturday evening, Jess was ready to make her Club100 debut at Glan-Y-Gors on Sunday morning, 13th April. A DRS Academy Day last year gave her a little bit of track knowledge which was helpful having missed the pre-event testing the day before, with just an 11 minute practice before heading into qualifying.

Knowing how competitive the field is at Club100 we weren’t sure exactly where Jess might find herself, but looked forward to having a fun day and some good racing!  

In the practice session, Jess finished in 7th in her group with a best time of 55.229. Although still 1.425s off the fastest time, it was an encouraging start, and ahead of some more experienced drivers.

In qualifying, Jess improved on her previous time, with a best of 54.340. Despite halving the gap to the fastest driver in her group, she finished a place further back in 7th in her group, and 17th overall across the two groups. That put her in the A final, a great accomplishment on her first Club100 outing.

In the Pre-Final Jess started 17th. She dropped a place on the first lap, but being able to avoid some incidents ahead meant Jess gained several places in the early part of the race. She settled into a groove and caught up to the back of a 4 kart train a couple of laps from the end but was unable to find a way through, crossing the line in 13th place.

In the Final, Jess made a great start from 13th and found herself up to 8th place halfway through the first lap. A driver span ahead of her and although she managed to avoid them, it cost her quite a bit of time and she had dropped back to 12th at the end of the first lap.

As the race progressed, she steadily made places up, running in 7th by the halfway point of the race. Running at the front of a train of karts and defending solidly, she managed to set her fastest lap of the weekend with a 53.728. On the final lap she was caught by experienced Club100 driver Jacob Underhill who had been charging through from the back of the field after a first lap incident. He made a pass and Jess fought back, but that unfortunately compromised her on the run to the carousel and she lost another place to a driver behind.

Despite losing those two spots she was delighted with a 9th place finish, which also saw her awarded the Top Rookie trophy, finishing 6 places ahead of the next rookie. A great weekend at a track Jess really enjoys racing at!