After a brilliant start to his Ginetta Junior career, with a Rookie podium at Croft, it didn’t take Olli long to get back there for a second time! Snetterton saw Caldwell having some bad luck, but at the next time of asking Olli wasn’t only back on the podium once, but twice!
Knockhill is one of the most unique circuits the Ginetta Junior Championship travels to. The elevation changes make all the corners very tough and overtaking can’t be done without getting your elbows out so to speak! For a rookie, it is an extremely tough challenge.
In qualifying Olli appeared to hit the ground running and was 7th for most of the session, but in the shortest lap of the calendar he hit traffic on his last flying lap which cost him some time and dropped him to 11th. Not ideal, but certainly no disaster!
The first race saw Olli have a disastrous start, he dropped all the way to the back of the field after an incident and was a whole 7 seconds back from the leader. But Olli, reflecting his pace in qualifying, quickly started to make positions and was up three places in just two laps! Now closing in on a four-way battle ahead there were more places up for grabs, but unfortunately some moves dropped Olli back down the order again. He dug deep and made some places back in the final two laps to eventually come home in 15th place.
Race two of the weekend was a tough race for Olli which saw him going up and down the order on more than one occasion. He didn’t get off to the best start, but once he was in his groove he started to climb up the order making some great moves as he was fast approaching the top ten! But on lap eight Olli was pushed down from 10th to 14th place and had a lot of hard work to do again with now just three laps remaining. He pushed hard and got up to 12th place which turned into 10th with some post-race penalties.
The result was not only a top ten, but it also saw him on the rookie podium for the second time this season!
Race three saw Olli is the midst of some great battles once again. For the first time in the weekend he was able to hold position at the start, but dropped down to 13th in the first few laps. It’s the position where he’d remain over the next few laps before fighting back in the final few laps to finish 10th for a second race in a row. Not only was he 10th again, but he was also back on the Rookie podium making it three rookie podiums in eight races!
It was hard fought and well-earned podium and Olli, still new to the championship, was stealing trophies away from the drivers who had competed in four weekends before he was even old enough to race!
Olli Caldwell “It was great to be back on the rookie podium twice again at Knockhill. I was my first time racing here and there was some great, but hard racing which made it feel a bit like stock car racing at times!
I have got to say thanks to so many people who make this dream possible. The team, JHR Developments, for giving me a great car and my mechanic Liam Hewitt for all your hard work and late nights putting my car back together after each race! The driver coaches Tom, Stefan and Jody for all your input and guidance. And finally, the team at Arden Motorsport and YRDA for being so supportive.
Thanks to all my sponsors, Bremont Watches, ShaunLeane, Nicky Grist Motorsport, Total Rail Solutions and Fitzgerald Plant Services.