The Ginetta Junior Championship’s status as the leading junior race series in the world has been recognised by the Red Bull Junior Team, who have placed two of their international rising stars into the championship for the 2025 season.
The Red Bull Junior Team is one of the world’s most prestigious and successful driver development programmes, having helped launched the careers of numerous motorsport stars including current Formula 1 racers Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly.
Rocco Coronel and Scott Lindblom were selected to join the coveted programme following impressive performances in the renowned Red Bull Driver Search earlier this year. They will now be kick-starting their car-racing careers behind the wheel of Ginetta G40 Junior Evos carrying the iconic Red Bull livery.
Coronel (14, Holland), the son of touring car racers Tom Coronel and Paulien Zwart, has enjoyed a hugely-successful karting career. Winning the France IAME Junior title and finishing runner-up in the IAME Series Benelux last year, he recently secured a bronze medal in the 2024 FIA Karting World Championship.
Lindblom (14, Sweden) has put together an impressive karting career of his own too. Alongside several championship wins in his homeland, he secured a bronze medal in the 2023 FIA Karting World Championship and won the 2024 WSK Euro Series title as a member of the Swedish National Team.
Both drivers started their Ginetta journey earlier this month as they reached the final stages of the Ginetta Junior Scholarship contest at Blyton Park. They will both now make their Ginetta race debuts this coming weekend (02/03 November) in the Junior Winter Series at Silverstone.
The young talents have linked up with reigning Ginetta Junior champions R Racing for their debut campaigns. The Norfolk-based team are on a fantastic run of form in the series, winning the overall drivers’ title in each of the last four seasons and securing four of the last five teams’ crowns.
Kelly Edmund – Ginetta Championship Manager: “We are delighted to be welcoming Rocco and Scott to the Ginetta Junior Championship. To be partnering with the Red Bull Junior Team for the first time is brilliant and hopefully the start of a long and successful relationship between us.
“This news showcases how highly-regarded the Ginetta Junior Championship is across global motorsport, as the number one junior series for developing top karting talents and giving them the skills and experience to go on and become the champions of the future.”
Rocco Coronel: “My first races in a car, I am really looking forward to it. I don’t have any real expectations; I primarily want to learn as much as possible and to gain experience. It is a fun car to drive. Grip is limited because of the road tyres and the power of 100 hp may not sound very spectacular, but the car is very light as well, so it pulls nicely. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel!”
Scott Lindblom: “I’m very glad to take the step from karting to the Ginetta Junior Championship together with R Racing in 2025. With limited testing for the Winter Series, I’m humbled by the task but I’ll always do my best. I believe this is very good preparation for single-seaters in 2026 with the Red Bull Junior Team.”
Nathan Read – R Racing Director: “We are thrilled to be part of such a prestigious programme such as Red Bull. To introduce this into the championship is not only huge for R Racing, but for Ginetta also and to field not one, but two cars, is amazing.
“For the Red Bull driver development programme to recognise Ginetta Juniors as a serious stepping stone transferring from karts to cars confirms that Ginetta is the premier Junior category in Europe. The cars look great and we can’t wait to get started.”
Ginetta is introducing a range of enhancements for 2025 to keep every rung of its unique motorsport ladder at the front of the grid for years to come, including the introduction of the Ginetta G40 Junior Evo. More information can be found here.
