Donington Park backed HHC Motorsport Ginetta Junior Driver Tom Wood took a strong podium finish at the 2017 season opener - ending the first round 4th overall in the Drivers Championship.

Tom showed excellent pace at Brands Hatch, in pre- season testing with his new team HHC Motorsport.

He was eager to show this in Saturdays’ qualifying, and although he put in consistently quick lap times, was disappointed to qualify P10, with tenths separating the top ten.

Race one started on a wet but drying track, after a heavy shower. Tom made a good start off the line and made up 2 positions, and with the tricky track conditions saw two casualties spinning off. This put Tom into a strong 6th place and after passing one of his team mates, he set his sights on catching 4th place. He had closed the gap considerably and was within a couple of car lengths.

With rain moving in on the last two corners, making the final lap tense and exciting, the two leaders collided. Tom had to take avoiding action and came over the line in a hugely impressive 3rd place 0.5secs off 2nd.

Televised live on Sunday, Tom made  a bad start off the line from P8, but managed to gain a couple of places on the first couple of corners, then losing a place. He caught the lead pack, latching on in 7th place. On the third lap, a driver collided with Tom, which slowed him allowing a chasing group to catch him, but holding 6th.

Tom held off two chasing drivers behind for 3 laps, but was passed and dropped to 7th with the latter driver making contact at Druids.

At Clearways two laps later Tom made his move and climbed to 6th with two laps to go, opening a gap of nearly half a second. After a hard fought battle he finished 6th, but a 5 second penalty put his final result to 8th.

Tom gained valuable points over the weekend and proved he is a strong contender in the championship, standing 4th overall.

Tom Wood “A lot of positives to take away from this weekend. Finished 8th in the second race after a penalty and was really pleased to get a podium in race one! Standing 4th overalll in the Championship. Big thanks to HHC and chuffed to have my sponsors Scannervision watching this weekend!”

The second round of the Ginetta Junior Championship takes place at Donington Park on the 15-16 April. Tom will be focussed on delivering the best possible result at his home race and infront of his sponsors at Donington Park.