The new motorsport season kicked off in style for Andover's girl racer Dawn Boyd at Donington Park last weekend. Its all change for 2014 with a new car, built in just a few months by Finsport, and the first full-speed test in her Honda Civic Type-R was during qualifying.

With changeable weather conditions Dawn tested out the car for a few laps then posted a good time to place her in pole position for her class, in a big mixed grid of Honda and Ford performance cars.

Race one was at 9am on Sunday and overnight rain had left the circuit damp. The standing start went well with Dawn overtaking faster class cars and she raced well, learning more about the car all the time and brought it home three seconds per lap faster and first in class.

Race two, which was streamed live on TV in the sunshine had a rolling start, which resulted in first corner mayhem but great driving standards showed as everyone avoided each other.

This race was much closer and Dawn found herself tussling with a pack of three cars and places were exchanged all through with no contact, and Dawn came home in front for another class win and three more seconds off her lap times.

Dawn was delighted with the team’s efforts to build such a good car and looks forward to the Honda V-Tec series heading up north to Croft in a few weeks, part of a great 2014 calendar which even includes the legendary circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Dawn said after the opening day: “I would like to thank my sponsors for 2014 including MeisterR and my team Finsport ‘Jay and Kim have worked their magic during very difficult times and I am proud to be part of such a hard working team and am delighted to reward them with two class wins in memory of Lexi Marie Finlay.

An excellent start to the season which moves on to Croft on April 27, then Snetterton on May 11, Silverstone June 8, Cadwell Park on July 27, Brands Hatch on September 7 and the mighty Spaon October 5.

With various marshalling duties to perform when not racing, Dawn has a busy summer ahead as she looks to collect more trophies in her exciting new motor.