Jude Peters has been crowned the 15th winner of the coveted Ginetta Junior Scholarship, securing
himself a fully-funded season in the Ginetta Junior Championship next year.
Ginetta’s own Blyton Park circuit in Lincolnshire once again played host to the hotly-contested three-
day event (27-29 October), with a talented pool of 60 young drivers taking on a number of driving,
fitness and media assessments in their quest to win one of the biggest prizes in UK motorsport.
A number of leading teams from the Ginetta paddock supplied G40 Junior’s for the event – Elite
Motorsport, Xentek Motorsport, SVG Motorsport, Pace Performance, MDD Racing, Preptech UK, E3SportUK and
Fox Motorsport – with an elite judging panel overseeing the entrants’ driving skills.
Led by former Ginetta factory driver Charlie Robertson, the group of judges included the 2017 winner of the
scholarship and two-time Ginetta champion Adam Smalley, fellow Junior alumni Jack Mitchell, Max
Coates, Ben Green and Scott McKenna, plus experienced racer James Gornall.
Renowned motorsport commentator Richard John Neil was once again on hand to evaluate the
teenagers’ media and communication skills, while Ginetta’s in-house personal trainer Richard
Chessman assessed their fitness and determination to the test with a range of physical challenges.
After two hugely-competitive qualifying days, no less than 23 drivers made it through to the final day
of competition on Sunday. After another round of assessments, the field was narrowed down to 12
drivers, then to six and ultimately a final four was selected.
Those drivers got one last run behind the wheel of a Ginetta G40 before the judges deliberated and
made their final decision, announcing Peters as the 2024 Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner. The
Wiltshire-based driver received his trophy from the outgoing scholar Chase Fernandez.
The prize
The full prize package for 2024 includes all entry fees, use of a G40 Junior race car for the whole
season including consumables, insurance and a season supply of race tyres and fuel, and
professional car preparation from an experienced team for the duration of the season.
Word from Jude
Jude Peters, 2024 Ginetta Junior Scholar: “I really wasn’t expecting to win the Scholarship. We came
along thinking it would be a good opportunity for me to gain experience in the car, with the media
and the fitness, but we never thought about winning it.
“Throughout the day the odds of winning were coming down, and it was so close in the end with
tenths of a second between us. I knew I had to give it everything on the final run, I kept calm and kept
it controlled with the experience I had.
“I’m so happy to have won. I will be looking to represent Ginetta in a professional way, do as best as I
can through the 2024 season and prove that you don’t necessarily have to do karting to be
successful, and can progress through sim racing like I have.”
Words from Ginetta
Kelly Edmund, Ginetta Events Manager: “The level of talent amongst the young drivers entering the
Ginetta Junior Scholarship continues to impressive us each year we run the event, and this year was
one of the most hotly-contested of recent times.
“The standard of driving continued to increase as we narrowed down the field on Sunday, which
meant it was an extremely tough choice for us all to decide a winner and we had to take into account
the performances across the three days.
“Jude’s consistency really stood out, both on track but also in the media and fitness assessments. He
is a hugely deserving winner who will be a welcome addition to the Ginetta Junior Championship grid
next season.”
Peters joins an impressive list of Ginetta Junior Scholarship winners, following in the footsteps of the
likes of Dan Harper and Adam Smalley, 2023 champions in British GT and Porsche Carrera Cup GB
respectively, plus three-time W Series victor Jamie Chadwick.
The new scholar will make his Ginetta Junior Championship debut when the 2024 season kicks off at
Oulton Park in Cheshire over Easter weekend next year (30 March-01 April).
Finalists for 2024
Final 4:
Archie Clark, Benjamin Hamilton, Jude Peters, Noah Wolfe
Final 6:
Ruben Dan, Isaac Phelps
Final 12:
Louis Bordas, Finlay Buck, Torrin Byrne, James Ellis, Hady Mimassi, Harrison Whitticombe
Final 23:
William Brunelli, Hayden Gray, Robbie Greenwood, Luca Magni, Oliver Marne, Finn
Richardson, Luviwe Sambudia, Daniel Sameer, Daniel Shaw, Danielle Sutton, Zakaria Syed
