Norwich’s James Blyth Made a Strong Debut in the Mini Challenge, Including a 3rd Place Finish
Norwich racing driver, James Blyth made a solid start to his Mini Challenge season taking two fifths and a third place in the weekend’s triple header at his home circuit, Snetterton.
In his debut Mini Challenge weekend, 19 year old James was keen to get off to a flying start after a recent successful outing in the Mini Challenge Spring Cup which preluded the start of the season proper.
Run by Advent Motorsport, who themselves have recently relocated to Norfolk from Surrey, James’ S Class Mini was on fine form during Friday’s practice sessions when the team took the opportunity to tweak the set up for the weekend.
Saturday’s qualifying saw James put in a series of fast laps to be sixth quickest of the 35 cars, though his position was promoted to fifth on the grid after a competitor ahead was penalised for being underweight.
The first of the weekend’s three races was held on Saturday afternoon. At the start James dropped down to seventh place but soon battled back into fifth place where he remained unchallenged until the end of the race to take an admirable finish in his first Mini Challenge race.
The second race took place on Sunday morning, when Snetterton found itself basking in sunshine once again. James was aware that the car was slower than the previous day, after minor contact with a club class car he was lapping in race one caused damage to the air scoop causing the engine not to run at its optimum. But this wasn’t to faze James and once again he put in a valiant drive to finish in fifth place for the second race in a row.
By the afternoon and the third and final race, which at 22 laps was to be twice as long as the previous races, James really had the bit between his teeth! After the rolling start James dropped from fourth to eighth but as charged back. Other drivers found themselves in trouble in an incident packed race and by the 25minutes to go mark James found himself fighting for third place with Nathan Coulter. The battle was to be intense with their places swapping but as James got ahead of Coulter he was able to use the back markers they came across to his advantage and pull out a lead which saw him finish with a superb podium on his debut weekend.
“It has been a fantastic start to the season” said a clearly delighted James afterwards. “We’ve come away with three strong finishes and even a podium, so I am very pleased and thank the team for their support. I am looking forward to the next round now, which is Oulton Park where I think the car will go well and hope to continue with more consistent finishes to really stake my place in the Championship”
Snetterton weekend was also the first race where James was supported by new sponsor MiniPro.co.uk who offer an online performance parts service to Mini owners. James would welcome further sponsors and partners, offering a wide range of packages tailored for all budgets, further details and contacts can be found on his website at www.jamesblyth.com
The next two rounds of the Mini Challenge are at Oulton Park, Cheshire on Bank Holiday Monday 28th May.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
James Blyth - email James
Age: 19
Lives: Norwich, Norfolk
Website: www.jamesblyth.com
2007 Season: Competing in the Mini Challenge S Class in an Advent Motorsport prepared Mini S Cooper
Previous to 2007 – 8 years of karting. Senior TKM Extreme Lap record Holder – Buckmore Park
Outside of motorsport his hobbies include playing guitar, tennis, rugby, golf, football and partying! His ambition though is to become a professional racing driver.
Digital images are available on request from Rebecca Hobbs
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