Summarize

South African youngster Aqil Alibhai acquitted himself well on his first visit to the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit as the Ginetta Juniors visited the iconic racetrack over the weekend. In a tough weekend at the races, double African Open Rotax Max karting champion Alibhai concentrated on learning and moving forward as he continues to discover in his rookie main circuit season.

"This weekend was my first time at Silverstone, so I did not expect too much,” Aqil admitted. “I struggled to come to grips with the track in practice and had a few other challenges on Friday, but I put a good qualifying lap in and started 14th in the opening race. “The mid-pack is always a war, so I kept out of trouble and brought it home fourteenth in the race too.

“My second best qualifying lap saw us start 22nd in the second race and once again I kept my nose clean to finish 22nd. “We decided that I should give it a go in the final, where I once again started 22nd. “I fought my way up to 16th and then had a bit of a skirmish with another driver who wasn’t too happy with being overtaken. “That saw me fall back to 28th, from where I worked way back up to 19th again by the flag. 

“I enjoyed some great overtakes, passing fifteen cars in that race and I'm happy that my pace is there. “It’s all great preparation for next season and I am learning so much every race weekend. “Thanks as always to my Breakell Racing team, my dad and all the support back home. “We are getting there — onward and upward — let’s do this!"

Aqil has two more Ginetta Junior rounds at great British circuits in the next month — Donnington Park on 9-10 October and then the 23-24 October Brands Hatch finale.