Chicago Soft and The London Perfume Company Limited-backed youngster gets another win and two more podiums as the curtain falls on the 2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup

Liverpool-based teenager Declan Jones concluded the 2012 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season in impressive style at Brands Hatch last weekend (October 20-21).

The 17-year-old, who claimed his maiden G50 class win at Silverstone earlier this month, maintained that strong momentum on the trip to Kent and he began the weekend in dominant fashion by taking pole position in qualifying in his Century Motorsport-run Ginetta G50, his best lap around the Brands GP circuit a 1 minute 35.417 seconds, which put him almost half a second up on his closest class rival.

Declan then made the most of that in the opening race to lead the G50 class from lights-to-flag, annihilating the opposition and eventually crossing the line 11 seconds up on his closest rival.

Sunday yielded yet more silverware and while the weather turned nasty, the Chicago Soft and The London Perfume Company Limited-backed youngster bagged the runners-up spot in race two, despite being ‘lovingly’ tagged at the start by one of his rivals.

Declan then looked set to win again in the third and final race, which was screened live on UK television on ITV4, and headed the G50 class pretty much throughout. However an error at the end, when he pitted a lap too soon, cost him what would have been his third win of the year. Despite that though, he still took the final spot on the G50 podium and he posted the fastest lap in that final race too, concluding the season with 285 points on the board in total, and securing fifth place in the 2012 GT Cup, even though he only took in 12 of the 27 races.

“It was a fantastic weekend again for me,” Declan said. “Testing went well on Friday, even though we had never been out here before in the G50 and even though both sessions took place in the wet. Then qualifying went perfectly and I put it on pole comfortably, which was great. The margin was quite big considering how close this championship is.

“I had high hopes going into the first race and in the end I literally absolutely checked out. I won by 11 or 12 seconds and that was a brilliant way to end Saturday.

“On Sunday we had a little bit of an issue on the first lap in the opening race. I was pushed off and dropped to the back. But I still pulled my way through and got second, so it wasn’t too bad.

“In the last race, I was leading by 10 seconds and again absolutely blitzed the competition. But the visibility was just so bad I mistakenly thought I had taken the chequered, but there was still a lap to go.

“Still, it was a really good weekend for me overall. I said prior to it I wanted to get more wins and I did that. I was on the podium in every race and showed strong pace. I was in a different class in some of the races.

“It has been another learning year for me and it makes me hungry to go into next season and hungry to get the budget to ensure we can really fight. I feel really confident now. This year I haven’t been out that much, but everything has gone so well.

“A massive thank-you to everyone that has helped me – mainly my Dad, my Mum and my family, but also my partners, Chicago Soft and The London Perfume Company Limited, and of course my team, Century Motorsport. It has been a great year and it is just awesome to take fifth place overall in the G50 Cup.”

Declan’s dad and manager, Kelvin Jones meanwhile was delighted to see his son win again and felt the youngster had definitely made his mark.

“It was a shame what happened in the final race, but we don’t want to dwell on that,” Kelvin continued. “The absolutely crucial thing is Declan has shown he has the speed and skills to win whatever the conditions, whether it is dry or wet.

“He showed his absolute class throughout this weekend and must be the favourite for the G50 title next year, if we get the budget to do all the season, as we hope to. If anybody would like to get involved and support Declan, we’d love to hear from you. I am convinced Declan can be the G50 Champion in 2013.”