Cassandra Collins

"Fuck you, Michael."

- Cassandra Collins on Twitter on a regular occasion, talking about her brother.

Cassandra Samantha Collins (born October 16th, 1996) is a British Dash Cup driver from Reading, England. She drives the #1 Cadbury's STS ATK Racing STS Arrow. Collins is known as Dash Cup's youngest race winner, winning at 16 years and 211 days, as well as being the youngest champion, at 18 years and 360 days. Collins is also the winningest driver in Dash Cup history, after a 14 win season in 2015 seen her be the first driver to eclipse 20 wins in their career.

2010-2012 - Early Career
Collins started off her racing career as soon as she seen her sister, Laurie win the 2010 Neva Ring GP. Collins raced at Rogue Racing Aylesbury as part of a karting tournament, and finished second. Local scouts at the track noticed Collins in the race, and she was picked up as a developmental driver for Team Kwik Fit's Developmental Program for under 18s, and she was entered in 2011 British Under 16s Legend Car series. Collins did not make an immediate impact where she only scored one top ten at the Mallory Park oval, however she never scored a DNF, and was 12th in points after 10 rounds. In the second half of the season, her pace picked up excessively, however she was not as reliable. She scored two wins, but 5 DNFs, including a flip at the Indy layout of Brands Hatch. She finished 7th in points, since when she never DNF'd, she scored top 5's. In 2012, she returned with a mission; to win the championship. She scored a stunning 13 wins, and just like 2011, 5 DNFs, but she scored the championship in a very persuasive manner, and she was asked by Team Kwik Fit to move onto a bigger challenge; Dash Cup.

2012-2013 - Rookie Season in Dash Cup
Collins was contracted to a part-time deal in 2013 with Team Kwik Fit. She moved up to Dash Cup, mainly due to the minimum age of competitors dropping from 17 to 16, meaning Collins was the youngest driver to take part in Dash Cup since Harriet Wallace. Collins took part in the American Exhibition Tour, and finished fifth on debut on Daytona. At Road America, Collins was well on her way to finish on the podium, but she ran out of fuel on the white flag, with only two corners to go. Collins had a good run at Decatur before a crash, but a few days later at Kentucky, Collins took home the win, stealing it from Carla Rosinski. Collins lost to Justin Keith in the final laps at Charlotte, then in Sonoma, a top 5 run secured Collins the Exhibition championship.

Collins started 2013 on a high note when she got the pole for the 2013 Eurospeedway GP. However, Collins fell back early on and then got wrecked by Carla Rosinski early in the race. Collins continued the race, but then got in another accident on lap 20 and that took her out of the race. After the race, Collins confronted Rosinski about the move, in which Rosinski claimed her brakes went out, however this was disproved when there was proof of Rosinski using the brakes for going into the pits after the accident. Rosinski was fined 15 points, and Collins did not receive a penalty for confronting Rosinski.

Collins returned to Dash Cup competition at Vnukovo Airport, where she was caught up in a multi car accident with two laps left in the race. As a result, she finished well out of the points. Collins scored her first official point in Dash Cup at Mallory Park with a 20th place finish, and Collins followed this up with her first podium; a 2nd place run at Toddring. Collins dominated much of the race at Rockingham Motor Speedway, but was shuffled out of line on the last lap and was demoted to 8th. Despite her preference towards ovals, Collins started 2nd and led laps en route to a 3rd place finish at Hammer Motorsports Facility.

The Sussex GP was due to be Collins' last race of the 2013 season, but there were whisperings that Collins would be picked up by Kwik Fit to run the #02 car for the rest of the season as she was a potential title contender. However, the #79 Autosport Trepanier car opened up after Ashley Almendinger's involvement in the crash that claimed Daniel Miller's life, and Team Kwik Fit took the opportunity to have Collins gain some seat time in that car. Collins took advantage of it immediately, qualifying third at Oulton Park and making advantage of an Akira Tsukari mistake to take her first Dash Cup victory, surprisingly on a road course.

Collins followed this up by pulling off one of the most spectacular victories at Autodromo Antonio Pazzero, saving enough fuel while leading the race to make the full distance, plus a green-white-checkered attempt. She was the second person to win two races in a row, as Anto Markov did earlier in the season at Toddring and Rockingham. All good things must come to an end, however, and Collins' winning streak ended when her engine expired with 5 laps remaining at Circuit Thierry Sicotte.

Collins led much of her race at Calder Park Thunderdome, but was passed in the final laps by Tommi Arjanien, and despite her teammate winning one of the races in the weekend, Collins struggled and could only manage 17th at the Masaryk Circuit. The event at Karjala Raceway was significantly better, however, as Collins managed to earn a 6th place finish. Collins' title hopes took a major shot when then-defending Spa GP winner Ashley Ambercroft crashed into Collins with 5 laps to go. Collins would be forced to drop out of the race due to this. Despite earning her third win of the season at Twin Ring Motegi, Hannah Percy, Robert Dorian and Tanya Carter all shared some success as well in the weekend, and Collins did not enter the final race at New York Autoring a title contender. Around this time, Collins also took part in the ARLA Ring of Fire tour. Not much success came to Collins, however, as a top 10 at Hokkaido Speed Park was her only merit for the three ARLA starts she made.

Despite her short temper, Collins turned out to be a voice of reason during the New York weekend. Collins had avoided the big wreck that occurred on lap 17, but had been taken out in a separate wreck involving Barney Ward. Collins accepted an apology from Ward over the incident, saying that other people were "idiots" on the track with their driving.

Shortly after the disastrous New York Autoring event, Collins signed a one-year contract extension with Team Kwik Fit to drive the #02 car for the 2014 season.

2014 - Second Year with Kwik Fit
Collins suffered from a bad start to the season, after scoring three DNF's in all three races at Brands Hatch, the season opener. Collins scored points in the first race of the Oulton Park weekend, however, but got into an incident with her sister, Lonnie Collins in the 2nd race. While her older sister went on to win the third race, Cassie struggled, and finished off the lead lap in the third race. Collins finally scored her first top 5 of the year at Toddring, a staple for good performance for the Team Kwik Fit cars, but after making contact with Kellan Rogers while escaping the big one in the second race, Collins was sent upside-down.

Good luck finally came to Collins in an absurd way, as she was literally gifted her first win of the season when the Dash Cup officials decided to penalise Hannah Percy and Tanya Carter, who had originally finished 1st and 2nd. Collins had finished 3rd, but was promoted to the win. A good weekend at Mallory Park seen Collins scored points in all three races, including another top 5 in race 2.

Collins suffered another weekend of DNFs at Rockingham Motor Speedway when her teammate Grant Macintosh turned Collins into the inside wall out of turn 1 in the first race, and she was collected in an accident in the second race. Collins turned this around, however, scoring points in all three races at Launch Energy Motorpark.

Collins continued her good streak of finishes at Circuit Thierry Sicotte. Despite getting into an accident when battling for the lead with Patrick Arceneau, Stefan Halvari and Madison Peniall, Collins made advantage of her track position and a high attrition rate to take her second win of the season from the pole. Collins followed this up with another win by outrunning Barney Ward in the second race. She then finished off the weekend by scoring another points paying finish, despite getting into the aforementioned Ward on the opening lap.

Collins continued an unbelievable streak of points finishes at Lake Gooi Motorsports Complex with a top 5 finish in the first race, then two more points finishes in races 2 and 3. This carried on into the Spa GP, where Collins qualified on speed, and looked to be one of the favourites to take the win in the event. However, early contact with Noemi Giordano seen Collins taken out of contention for the win. Despite this, Collins finished in the top 10. However, after the race, Collins passed multiple cars on the cooldown lap to find Giordano, before turning Giordano into the tire wall, destroying her car. Collins was not penalised for the incident.

The strong run of points finishes for Collins was ended at 11 races, when she finished 26th in the second race at Autodromo Antonio Passero, however Collins did get a top 10 in the reverse grid race. Collins had a weekend to forget after scoring a DNF in the first race, and 30th, the last car on the lead lap, in the second. However, due to the reverse grid rules, only lead lap cars are taken into account when reversing the grid, and Collins started race 3 on the pole, but was passed by Stasya Filipov. Collins was significantly faster than Filipov, but whenever Collins passed the Russian, she would run into bad luck and get passed by Filipov again. Most significantly, Collins got by Filipov with two laps to go, but then made contact with her sister and teammate, Lonnie Collins. Cassie turned her sister into Filipov, but Filipov made the pass again, and went on to win, and Collins had to settle for second.

Surprisingly, Collins was mostly a non-factor at Eurospeedway Lausitz, until the third race where she finished second, not being able to pass Verity Logan on a green-white-checkered finish. Collins entered the season finale at New York Autoring being one of the favourites to win one of the races, however, Collins suffered damage in a crash in the first race, and was left on the short end of the stick again on a green-white-checkered finish when she was dumped by the whole line of cars behind her, giving Elizabeth Francisco her first win and demoting Collins to seventh. However, Lonnie, her aforementioned older sister, was in a severe accident to bring out the late caution, and the younger Collins, at the races finish, went straight to the local New York hospital where Lonnie was receiving treatment. Despite her seemingly bad luck at the beginning and end of the season, a good mid-season proved vital for Collins, as she finished 5th in points, one down from her rookie season in 2014.

Collins had been linked with several teams over the course of the 2014 season. She had originally signed with Atlantic Motorsports after her buyout clause of her Team Kwik Fit had been met by the team. However, just after the Rockingham season, it was revealed Atlantic had let her hold discussions with Tom Delgado Racing over a contract in the FARC Elite Series. However, after a long string of discussions, Collins decided to not make the move, labelling herself at too inexperienced to make the move over at that moment in time, and Collins would drive for Atlantic Motorsports for the 2015 Dash Cup season.

2015 - Atlantic Motorsports
Collins drove the iconic #28 car for Atlantic Motorsports when series champion Hannah Percy made the move over to Collins' former team, Team Kwik Fit. Collins' first weekend at her new team did not go to plan, as Collins struggled to get going in the first race at The Toddring, and suffered a DNF in the second race, but Collins recovered to be in the fight for the win at the end of the third race, but she could only manage to score a 4th place finish. Brands Hatch was expected to be an easy race for Atlantic after their prior dominance at the track in 2012 and 2014, however the team in general struggled to find pace at the track, and Collins' only finish in the points that entire weekend was a 19th in the third race of the weekend.

Collins made an appearance at the Rockingham Motor Speedway for the Oval Stocks race, but not without her controversies. Nearing the end of the race, Collins was fighting with teammates Kellan Rogers-Ashby and Natalie Kendall, as well as Team Kwik Fit driver and series regular Perrie Forrester for the lead of the event when Collins got into the back of Forrester, turning all four cars around. While Kendall, Forrester and Collins were able to control their cars and get them straight, Rogers-Ashby slid through the grass into the second turn, where she was struck by Ebony Phillips. Phillips was then collected by Christopher Mertin, sending Phillips roof first into the turn 2 catchfence, before another huge impact with the ground. Phillips received medical attention at the scene, before she was airlifted to a local hospital, but sadly Phillips died of her injuries. Collins went on to win the race, but did not celebrate the win.

Collins started off her weekend at the Hammer Motorsports Facility much more successfully than the previous two, by winning the first race from the pole, taking advantage of Stjepan Svetadic blowing a motor coming to the white flag. However, Collins struggled to navigate lap traffic in the second race, and could only manage a 4th. Collins found herself in a position to fight for the win in the third race as well, but Collins turned Harriet Wallace, who was leading, into the wall, giving both cars terminal damage. This lead to an irate Wallace confronting Collins about the move after the race, but the two quickly got over the incident. As a result of the incident, Collins was moved to the back of the grid at Oulton Park, while Harriet Wallace ironically earned the pole. Collins moved from the back to the front in race 1, earning a 13th place finish, then turning that into a 2nd place finish in race 2. Collins did not finish the third race after a crash, however.

Shortly after the Oulton Grand Prix, Collins had made it public that she was not happy at Atlantic Motorsports, partially due to the amount of controversies that lingered around the team. The next weekend at Mallory Park did not do her or the team any favours. Collins and Kellan Rogers-Ashby, her team-mate, were reckless in the Oval Stocks event, so much that Collins elected to take herself out of the car for the second Oval Stocks race of the weekend. This landed her in hot water, but Collins was also credited for the way she handled the situation in comparison to Rogers-Ashby. Collins' weekend would not get any better, as she failed to score points in all three Super Touring races. By this point, Collins was only 13th in points, being beaten persuasively by Rogers-Ashby and Natalie Kendall in the points.

Collins managed to secure her second win of the season after passing Natalie Kendall for the win in the second race of the weekend at Silverstone Circuit, and Collins secured points in all three races of the weekend, but after the race, Collins announced that she had decided to leave Atlantic Motorsports for another team for the end of the 2015 season, however, when the Netherlands Grand Prix rolled around, there were rumours circulating that she may leave before the end of the season. A few days later, Ben Atkins announced that he had signed Collins to drive for his team from the Spa GP onwards. Atlantic would be bringing in Jacob Eichholtz as of that race. Collins finished well in all three races at the Lake Gooi Motorsport Complex, scored two top 10s in the first two races. At the Illebianchi Circuit, Collins put on a great show for the win in both races with Kellan Rogers-Ashby, and Collins took her third of the season in the second race. By this time, Collins had gained over 150 points on the points leader, and pulled herself to 5th in the points.

The race at Circuit Thierry Sicotte was the last for Collins at Atlantic Motorsports, but Collins went out with a bang, putting on one of her best performances ever in her career. Collins started 15th in the first race, and through speed and attrition, Collins was able to finish 2nd in the first race. Collins then put on a dominant performance to win the second race, holding off Kellan Rogers-Ashby. Collins then proceeded to do the impossible, coming from 28th on the grid to win the reverse grid race. A lot of fans believed Amber Clagett would have taken victory had contact with Patrick Arceneau not given her car damage, but Collins was given a lot of credit for her victory, as she entered Spa GP the favourite to win it with her new team.

2015 - The ATK Race Team
Collins entered the Spa GP only 10 points behind points leader Hannah Percy, as she had jumped her way to second in points. Despite her brilliant performances, she still left Atlantic Motorsports, and opened up more on why she left the team. She cited the way that the team dealt with Ebony Phillips' fatal crash as one of the ways, as she said she often felt like the cause by personnel of the team. She also said team owner William Atkins was unprofessional and treated his drivers badly. With her new team, Collins locked herself in with ease in the first qualifying session. However, she only managed to qualify 30th on the grid, and eventually the ATK Lycoia's engine gave up and Collins retired from the Spa GP.

It took Collins time to get adapted to the new Lycoia she was driving, as she failed to make an impact at either Vnukovo Airport or Norisring, however in the first ever outing to Latvia, Collins managed to sweep the first two races convincingly. At Dubai, Collins won the second race of the season, and then at Saitama Ken Race Track, Collins made advantage of Amber Clagett's misfortunes to win the third race of the weekend.

Collins' good form shown no sign of slowing down, as she went on to win races at Decatur Raceway, Sonoma Raceway and Road Gatineau. Winning races for an incredible 6 race weekends in a row, she managed to close in on Kellan Rogers-Ashby in the points fight, making it a two car fight for the title. At Watkins Glen International, Collins won the second race of the weekend before having a fierce battle with Rogers-Ashby for the win in the third race. Despite being slightly faster during the run, the Canadian managed to hold off Collins for the win.

There were now only 5 points between Collins and Rogers-Ashby entering the final race of the season, a special event at New York. Collins made her way onto the grid in the first session of the weekend, qualifying 5th, but Rogers-Ashby outqualified her, scoring 4th on the grid. Appearances seemed bleak for Collins at first, as after the first lap, Rogers-Ashby found her way to the lead of the event, while Collins was second. However, Rogers-Ashby was hit by Sakura Motoko during pit stops on lap 23, and a left rear tire on the 27 car was cut, putting Collins in the lead. Collins lead the remaining 17 laps to take her 14th win of the season, and to secure the Dash Cup championship by 40 points over Rogers-Ashby.

For 2016, Collins elected to stay with The ATK Race Team through their merger with STS Racing, Inc. as they form a 4 car armada for the season ahead.

Personal Life
Collins is known to have one of the shortest tempers in the Dash Cup paddock, often calling people out over their actions and not being afraid to confront other drivers. Despite this, when not angered, Collins is also known to be one of the nicer people in the paddock, too, despite often getting in brawls with other people on social media. Collins is also known to be well spoken, and have good defences in an argument.

Collins still resides in Reading, England, but despite her young age, does not live with her parent. Instead, she shares an apartment with several of her former classmates from school. Collins is currently in a relationship with former Oval Stocks and Team Kwik Fit driver Joey Clagett, the brother of Amber Clagett, who Collins is very good friends with.

Collins is known to be good friends with most of the other female drivers in the paddock, and she also shares a good friendship with FARC Elite Series driver Daniel Leckliter.