Daniella Sutton's promising Silverstone weekend ended prematurely after an incident in the first race

Daniella Sutton's promising weekend at Silverstone came to an abrupt end after an incident in race one forced her to sit out the rest of the races. Although this was not the end to the event that Sutton had expected, she showed good pace over the course of the weekend and was ready to fight for the top 10 positions, as well as achieving her best qualifying result of the season.

BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship winner Daniella Sutton endured an unfortunate weekend at Silverstone as her race was ended early due to an incident in Race 1. After achieving her best qualifying result to date, Sutton was looking to challenge for top 10 places at the high-speed Silverstone National circuit.

Bad luck struck the 20Ten Racing driver on the fifth lap of the first race when she overturned her car after hitting a curb while avoiding an accident in front of her. With the damage too extensive to repair, Daniella made her commentary debut in the remaining races to showcase her off-track skills.

Sutton returned to the scene of her BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship debut looking to challenge for top 10 places. Competing in the first non-championship round of the season at the international circuit, Daniella adapted superbly to the challenges of car racing, securing a best result of ninth overall. Since then, the 20Ten Racing driver has shown great potential and was looking to translate that into strong placings at the Silverstone National Circuit, where the teenage drivers contest three races of the event.

Qualifying took place in good conditions on Saturday morning and Daniella made an excellent start to the session, setting the fastest opening sector overall on her second flying lap. For most drivers, the tyres were at their peak in the middle part of the session and this was when Sutton set her fastest time of the session. Her fastest lap of 1:12.203 put her in tenth place overall and ninth among the MK7 class drivers, while she showed consistently strong pace in the first sector.

Sutton started the first race of the weekend in tenth place and ninth in the MK7 class. The 20Ten Racing rider got off to a good start but came under pressure from Callie Clifford on the opening lap heading into Becketts. A collision with the JamSport Racing rider sent Sutton to the outside and lost momentum on the Wellington Straight. Daniella finished the first lap in twelfth place overall and tenth in the MK7 class and was now looking to find her qualifying speed to get back into the top 10.

By lap two, Sutton was one of the fastest riders on track and her speed through the first part of the lap was again impressive. In close racing in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship, Daniella was less than five seconds behind the leader as the young riders entered lap four. Although she lost out to Jenson Mason, Sutton gained momentum on lap five and challenged Mason and Clifford.

When the two drivers ahead of her collided at Brooklands and went wide, Sutton tried to swerve and contact with a kerb caused the car to roll over. Fortunately, she escaped unhurt, but the damage to the car was too great to repair for races two and three on Sunday.

Instead of racing, Daniella was able to try her hand at commentating when she joined the BRSCC team for the two races on Sunday. This was a great experience for Sutton, who was able to further develop the media skills she gained through the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholarship.

Although it wasn't the end of the event that Sutton expected, she showed good speed as the weekend progressed and was ready to fight for top 10 finishes. Her best qualifying result of the season was a testament to that pace and she will look to maintain it in the final rounds of her rookie season.

The next round of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship will take place on the weekend of 21/22 September at Thruxton, a new circuit for all riders.