Brad at the Ginetta Media Day, Silverstone

Brad unvieled his new Ginetta G40 at the Ginetta Media Day held at Silverstone circuit in Northampton. From brand new out of the box, Brad put his Paul Bailey Car Sales sponsored car through it’s paces ahead of the start of 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship.

Brad puts his new G40 through it's paces

Alongside new team mates Sennan Fielding and George Gamble, Brad did the TJ Motorpsport team proud as he improved his lap times around the Silverstone circuit throughout the day, clocking a 1 min : 11 secs lap, which should put him in good shape for competing in this years Championship.

Brad easily outpaces his old car on the Silverstone circuit

Brad has more tests planned at Donnington and Brands Hatch, which will enable him to familiarise himself with his new car and settle in with his new team, before the full season gets underway with rounds 1 and 2 being held at the Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent on 2nd and 3rd April.

More photos from the media day can been seen on the Pics & Vids page.

Last week the Brad Bailey Racing team confirmed that they would be competing in the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship with the T J Motorsport team, who last year successfully played host to leading drivers Louise Richardson, Jody Fannin and Tom Howard. T J Motorsport is managed by former saloon car champion Trevor Griffiths, and has is based in Norfolk near Snetterton circuit. Over the past 15 years the team has had a great deal of success and Brad will be hoping to benefit from the team’s experience in successfully running upcoming Junior drivers.

The 2011 season kicks off on 2nd/3rd April with opening rounds 1 & 2 being held at Brands Hatch, Kent.

Brad competed in the final 2 rounds of the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship at the weekend, with the venue being a return to Brands Hatch. This time the Juniors raced the shorter Inndy circuit having competed earlier on in the season on the full GP circuit.

Expectations were high as Brad arrived for teh race weekend having put in a strong testing performance on the Wednesday, putting his Ginetta G40 through its paces having received back from Ginetta HQ in York.

Brad struggled with pace and set up, and consequently qualified towards the back of the grid. This was a blow to the team as the lack of pace seemed to return even though Wednesdays testing had seemingly a marked improvement in the car. Whatever gremlins remained in his G40, Brad still put in a solid and consistent performance, and, as he has all season, put in a good set of races despite a lowly starting position on the grid.

Brad finished 13th in race 1 and 10th in race 2 – his 4th top ten finish of the season. Brad ended his first season in 15th place and Ginetta are taken the car back for further investigations in a hope to get the car performing in line with the rest of the field before the start of next season’s Championship.

Brad competed in rounds 13 and 14 at Silverstone last weekend, and like the weather, his fortunes were varied and mixed, but there was a silver lining.

Having tested well, Brad was disappointed to qualify 16th on the grid for both races, and a first lap incident in Saturday’s race saw Brad hit and spin off. With extensive tyre damage Brad brought the car into the pits to change his rear wheel before returning to the action, though effectively this put him 2 laps down and out of contention.  Brad eventually brought his bruised Ginetta home in 17th place to maintain his 100% finishing record. The team then set to work to repair the damage for Sunday’s race.

Sunday proved to be a race of better fortune, and with a great start Brad skillfully maneuvered his Ginetta G40 into the top ten by the end of the first lap.  With others around him losing their heads, Brad managed to stay on the track, and although he lacked full pace he still managed a credible 10th place without major incident.

Brad now lies 15th in the Championship and takes his Ginetta G40 to Knockhill in Scotland to compete in rounds 15 & 16 on 4 & 5th September.

After the summer recess, the second half of the Ginetta Junior Championship got underway with rounds 11 and 12 at Snetterton race track.

Brad worked hard on testing and set-up and this seemed to pay dividends with a superb qualifying performance earning Brad 12th on the grid for both of the weekend’s races – and all this with the field 20 strong and very competitive.

Brad capitalised on his qualifying with round 11 seeing Brad start strongly and get up to 9th position and eventually finishing 11th, just 7 seconds behind the winner, Louise Richardson. Round 12′s race saw Brad slowed up behind a first corner incident, and then he was hit while following the pace car, but nevertheless clawed his way back up to 13th – just 0.1 seconds off 12th place.

Brad now lies 15th in the Championship and is one of only 7 drivers to have finished every round. Attentions now turn to Silverstone, which hosts rounds 13 and 14 on 21st and 22nd August, where Brad will hope to continue his improved performance.

Croft racing circuit near Darlington staged rounds 9 and 10 of the Ginetta Junior Championship last weekend. Croft was a circuit that featured in the Junior Rallycross Championships and so there was some familiarity that Brad could benefit from (despite the Ginetta Juniors racing on 100% tarmac of course).

However, the weekend proved to be incident packed. After qualifying in a slightly improved 18th and 16th positions on the grid for the weekend’s two races, Brad’s car was badly damaged in Saturday’s race as it was rear-ended in a heavy shunt when Brad rejoined the track after a spin on the infield. Despite heavy damage to the car, Brad still managed to finish the race in 17th place.

The team made a remarkable effort o make the car presentable and race-ready for Sunday. Unfortunately, Brad was involved in a first corner incident and was launched air-bound leaving Brad at the tail-end of the field. Never to be deterred, Brad fought is way up from the back of the field to finish a credible 15th place.

The team now has the benefit of a summer break to further straighten out the car and get some testing in before the championship resumes with rounds 11 and 12 on 7th and 8th of August at Snetterton.

Brad competed in rounds 7 & 8 of the Ginetta Junior Championship at the weekend. Struggling with set-up, Brad qualified down in 19th place for both races. Sunday proved the better race with Brad finishing 4 places ahead of his grid position in 15th.

Brad next competes at Croft in rounds 9 & 10 – part of the track will be familiar to him as this is the track where he clinched his 2009 Junior Rallycross Championship Title.

Brad Bailey, Ginetta Juniors, Brands Hatch GP Circuit

Brad competed in rounds 5 and 6 of the Ginetta Junior Championship at the Brands Hatch GP circuit last weekend. In what proved to be a very eventful weekend, Brad managed to keep his head and the car on the track to score a top ten finish in only his fifth race.

Brad qualified 16th for both races out of a field of 18 cars, but felt confident he could improve on that performance in both races. Saturday’s round 5 race saw many other drivers lose their concentration and 7 failed to finish, leaving Brad to keep the car on pace and on the track to score his first top ten finish of the season with 10th place.

Sunday’s race was a very wet one, and Brad made a great start and clawed his way up onto the mid field before a spin on one of the closing laps left him at the tail end. However, with many drivers again failing to finish, Brad still earned himself 13th place by the time the chequered flag came.

Brad now lays at 16th place in the Ginetta Junior Championship after 6 rounds, out of 20 drivers.

Brad now heads to Oulton Park race circuit in Cheshire for rounds 7 and 8 of the Ginetta Junior Championship. This will be a real challenge as he has never seen this track before let alone raced on it!

Brad raced at Rockingham last weekend to compete in rounds 3 and 4 of the Ginetta Junior Championship. In only his second circuit racing weekend, Brad managed two superb qualifying lap times in Saturday’s qualifying session to book 13th place on the grid for Saturday’s race and 12th on the grid for the Sunday live televised race. This performance represented a full 4 places up the grid ahead of his positions at Thruxton, a fact that certainly didn’t go unnoticed in the pit lane.

Brad puts his Ginetta Junior G40 thorugh its paces at Rockingham

However, despite the fantastic qualifying performance and great starts, both of Brad’s races at the Rock were effectively ended with first lap incidents. Both incidents saw Brad hit by other competitors leading to him spinning off the circuit, though despite the damage incurred Brad did manage to compete both races in 17th position.

The Brad Bailey Racing team was clearly frustrated by the incidents as Brad’s race pace had proved to be better than qualifying, and a top ten finish looked on the cards. The team now have their work cut out to get the car repaired and race-ready for rounds 5 & 6 at Brands this weekend.

Brad got his first real taste of circuit racing over Easter weekend as he competed in the Ginetta Juniors season opener at Thruxton in his new G40.

Brad used testing sessions on Good Friday to get to grips with the car and circuit and play with the set up in wet conditions. Saturday saw Brad improve his times with a damp but drying track on Saturday during free practice and qualifying. For Saturday’s round 1 race, Brad qualified 17th ahead of fellow newcomer Max Coates, while his second best time was good enough for 16th on the grid for Sunday’s round 2 race.

Brad made a flying start in Saturday’s race, making his way up to 10th place on lap 1, only to spin at the start of the pit straight and return to the back of field. Brad made further progress getting back up to 15th, before spinning again a few times as he struggled with a car set up for wet conditions on a drying track. Eventually Brad battled his way back to 17th place to finish in the same place as he qualified and picked up 4 championship points in the process.

Sunday’s race saw Brad make a great start from the lights again, and he settled in 14th position and eventually finished a credible 15th place worthy of 6 championship points and a place ahead of his qualifying position. Brad didn’t have any offs in the race and his times improved by nearly 2 seconds per lap as the car settled and Brad grew in confidence.

All in all a positive start to Brad’s circuit racing career and 2 points place finishes was a great start given some other newcomers didn’t even make the starting grid having had major offs in testing.

The next rounds, 3 & 4, take place at Rockingham circuit on 24th and 25th April.