The 20th anniversary season of the Ginetta Junior Championship got off to a thrilling start earlier this month, and the teenage rising stars are sure to put on a show again this weekend as the series celebrates its landmark 500th race at Silverstone.
Since its inaugural season in 2005, Ginetta Juniors has firmly established itself as the longest running and most prestigious Junior championship in the UK. Reaching 500 races is the latest milestone for the series and the class of 2025 will be fighting to earn the bragging rights of securing the landmark victory.
The Red Bull Junior Team is being represented on the Ginetta Junior grid for the first time this season and member Rocco Coronel enjoyed a dream start in the Donington Park season opener. The Dutchman celebrated two victories to secure the early points advantage.
R Racing started their defence of the drivers’ and teams’ titles with a clean sweep of the opening weekend wins. Alfie Slater joined Coronel in securing a maiden car-racing victory, as the young brother of 2023 champion Freddie builds on his impressive rookie campaign last year.
Fred Green (Elite Motorsport) is competing this season as the latest winner of the coveted Ginetta Junior Scholarship and he made a brilliant start, scoring the opening pole position of the season and a pair of second place finishes.
Torrin Byrne and Pace Performance celebrated their maiden Junior podium finish on a memorable season opening weekend at Donington Park, while R Racing duo Max Cuthbert and Red Bull-backed Scott Kin Lindblom also featured in the overall top three.
A number of rookie drivers made their mark on the opening weekend, including Joseph Smith (Elite Motorsport) and Freddie Lloyd (Fox Motorsport) who picked up class trophies. Lloyd impressed with his overtaking too, remarkably gaining more than 40 places across the opening three races.
Amongst the other potential podium contenders this weekend will be Colin Cronin (Elite Motorsport), a race-winner at Silverstone in the 2024 Winter Series, plus rookie talent Ethan Lennon (Pace Performance) who started the year firmly inside the top ten battles.
Four other rookie class contenders emerged from the opening weekend with overall top ten results to their name; Jarrett Clark (R Racing), Emmilio Del Grosso (Elite Motorsport), Noah Young (Performance One) and Harry Bartle (MKH Racing).
Performance One and MKH Racing are amongst four new teams on the grid this season. The latter are also running Raúl Zunzarren, while Tim Gray Motorsport have entered a talented quartet of Josh Watts, Joshua Henry, Matthew Chiwara and Katrina Ee.
While race results didn’t go their way as hoped at Donington, Ethan Carney (Elite Motorsport) and MDD Racing pair Felix Livesey and George Proudford-Nalder all showed their front-running potential. The grid for Silverstone this weekend is completed by three more rookies; Felipe Reijs (R Racing), Revie Lake (Elite Motorsport) and Henry Cameron (Fox Motorsport).
Follow the action across the weekend on social media, @GinettaCars.
Provisional Timetable:
Saturday 05 April: Qualifying 11:20; Race One 16:55
Sunday 06 April: Race Two 09:10; Race Three 15:35
All three races will be streamed live on Ginetta’s YouTube channel, while live timing and results will be available via TSL Timing.
