Esmee Hawkey got her 2017 season off to a superb start at Donington Park with two podium places in the opening three races. 
Esmee proved her mettle in 2016 and returned to the 2.1 mile Derbyshire circuit with the podium in mind. The highly competitive GTA group comprises cars from several different manufacturers and is often the most closely fought in the whole championship.

The 18-year old racer showed a good turn of speed in race one, despite a mechanical issue in qualifying limiting her to only two laps. With the car repaired, Esmee was able to race to third and a podium finish behind the Ginettas of returning champion Rob Gaffney and Dominic Paul. Contact in race two with a faster, GTC group Ferrari, resulted in Esmee being spun down the order and forcing her to fight back through the pack. She set a scintillating pace after that to recover and finish less than two-tenths of a second behind fourth place, taking the fastest lap of the race in the process.

“It was nice to get back into it after a long break,” said Esmee. “We had a few issues with the car in qualifying and I only managed to do two laps. We lost the driveshaft so that caused us to miss the majority of qualifying. We started race one in fifth and we just worked from there and managed to take third place. In the second race, unfortunately one of the GTC cars hit the rear of my car and spun me around.”

In a sun-drenched Sunday qualifying session Esmee set a time fast enough for third on the GTA grid. Her time would have been faster had the session not been stopped due to a car going off whilst she was on her quick lap. A solid start to the pitstop race saw her hold her place off the line before moving into the lead of the GTA group by half distance. As Esmee tried to pass a slower car she was held up which allowed Gaffney, making a one-off appearance in the championship, to overtake her to take the victory.

“We didn’t have any issues in qualifying for the pitstop race but the red flag came out at the wrong time for me and I lost a hot lap on warm tyres. We were able to go back out again and P3 on the grid was the result. Getting second place in the fifty-minute race driving on my own was good. We were battling for first so it was a shame we couldn’t get the victory. We got held up with a GTB car that was slower than us which allowed Rob to overtake me. I’m happy with the way the season has started but I’m looking to win.”

Esmee now sits third in the GTA group, only five points behind second place, and will be looking to close the gap at Brands Hatch on the 20th and 21st May for rounds 4, 5 and 6.