LOCAL driving star Jem Hepworth, at the age of just 19, recently made her debut in the Britcar Championship at Brand’s Hatch.

Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, and Jem suffering from an unexpected knee injury, meant she missed the first round in July.

However, Jem safely returned at round two, alongside teammate Danny Harrison, both with help from "Motorsportwoman", from Fox Transport and Timepiece nightclub.

Jem’s return was in style, taking wins in both races. 

Jem drove the Praga R1T with VR motorsport in the Britcar Championship, which is a hugely popular series for drivers looking to take their debut seasons in car racing.

Jem and Danny are one of the youngest pairings the championship has ever seen.

Despite missing the first round, Jem arrived at Brand Hatch fresh from some time in the simulator at the young racing drivers academy with Steve Hutchinson and was ready to race!

With help from Danny, she was quickly up to speed and helped get the team pole position in qualifying to get the weekend off to a perfect start.

On her debut in the championship, Jem would be handed the car to start from pole position.

She showed no signs of nerves and would hold off any threats at the start and open up a gap of six seconds before handing over to Danny.

Danny built on that gap to take a comfortable win for the pair in their first race as teammates.

Jem, once again, took the start in an extended Race 2, which would prove to be very eventful.

Whilst running in second place, an unavoidable incident brought out the red flags.

Fortunately there was no damage to Jem or the car, who were brought back to take the restart from the pit lane.

Jem continued to drive and immediately gained places through the field. Then Danny took over and was four laps behind the race leader and put in a sensational performance to catch the leader and take the race win!

A commentator said, never in all his years following Motosport had he seen a car involved in a red flag incident go on to take the win in such dramatic style!

The result puts the pair in the lead of the championship as they approach the halfway point of the season.

Jem, from Chulmleigh, will now get straight back to work to prepare for round three of the series in five weeks at Oulton Park.

Jem has been a keen racer since June 2012 at the age of 11.

Follow Jem on “Facebook” at: jemhepworthracing .