Schoolgirl racer Sarah Moore wins championship title

Oct 11 2009 by Zoe Burn, Sunday Sun

SCHOOLGIRL Sarah Moore has left the boys trailing in her wake by racing into the history books as the first female to ever win a British national level car racing championship and she’s only 15!

The youngster from Tockwith, near Wetherby, shrugged off the competition in the male dominated sport to snatch the Ginetta Junior Championship crown at the famous Brands Hatch circuit.

The championship is a racing series for 13-17-year-olds and is part of the prestigious TOCA British Touring Car Championship package.

While many women have tried their hand at racing at this level, none had won a race before Sarah scored her first victory earlier this year, racing for her family-owned squad Tockwith Racing.

Now she has gone one better and taken the title, as well as her place in history.

Although she didn’t win last Sunday’s race, she finished second behind boyfriend Jake Hill, also 15. But second place was enough for the King James School pupil to take the overall title after her main rival Jake Cook spun off and knocked himself out of contention.

And her proud boyfriend was the first to give her a celebratory hug as she emerged from her tiny pink and purple Ginetta car.

“I was screaming inside the car when I knew I’d done it,” said Sarah. “My main rival was ahead of me on track and I was putting him under lots of pressure. When he spun off I just started shouting – even though the race wasn’t over – but then I had to keep calm to finish in second place.