Isaac Phelps has been crowned the 2024 Ginetta Junior Winter Series champion after winning two of the three races at Silverstone this past weekend (02/03 November).
The 15th running of the traditional end-of-season championship took place at Silverstone for the first time ever, with a packed grid of teenage talents serving up three action-packed races around the National circuit as part of the historic Walter Hayes Trophy weekend.
Saturday
Joseph Smith (Elite Motorsport) impressively went fastest of all in official testing on Friday, however it was Max Cuthbert (R Racing) who emerged from his first Junior qualifying session in five months with a brilliant maiden pole position on Saturday morning.
Phelps (Elite Motorsport) was second fastest, just 0.089s adrift, as he also secured the race two pole position on second fastest times. Fellow 2024 race-winner Colin Cronin (Fox Motorsport) was next up, while Smith was the quickest of the debutants in fourth overall.
Cuthbert led the field away from pole position in race one later that morning, however he would slip back to fourth over the opening few laps. Phelps moved into the race lead with Alfie Slater (R Racing) and Cronin in hot pursuit as the top three broke clear in the early stages.
Cuthbert ended up in an exciting three-way battle for fourth with Felix Livesey (MDD Racing) and a fast-starting Ethan Carney (Elite Motorsport). After the trio traded places multiple times, unfortunate contact at Brooklands between Livesey and Carney spun the latter outside of the top ten.
Benefitting most was Cuthbert, who broke free of that group and made it a four-way scrap for the win in the closing laps. Serving up the entertaining brand of slipstreaming racing that the Juniors are renowned for at Silverstone, any one of the top four looked like they could emerge as winner.
Slater dived down the inside of Phelps at Luffield for the lead on lap 14, however a defensive entry into Copse on the next lap dropped him back to third. Phelps regained the advantage and perfectly executed the final two laps to record the opening victory of the 2024 Ginetta Junior Winter Series weekend.
Cronin and Slater followed him home to complete the overall podium, while Cuthbert was close behind as he scored the rookie class win and the fastest lap of the race. Three drivers were battling it out for fifth at the end, with Smith gabbing the place ahead of Livesey and Rocco Coronel (R Racing).
Livesey received a five-second track limits penalty though, putting him back to ninth on the final result. Coronel therefore completed the top six, securing a rookie podium in the process alongside Cuthbert and Smith, with James Ellis (MDD Racing) in seventh ahead of Josh Watts (Elite Motorsport).
Carney was left to settle for tenth at the finish, having impressively charged up the order from 12th on the grid to fifth at one stage. Jarrett Clark (R Racing), Henry Cameron (Fox Motorsport), Scott Lindblom (R Racing) and Hamish Forrest (MDD Racing) completed the finishers in their debut races.
Phelps converted the race two pole position into a controlled lead in the early laps, as Cuthbert defended second from Cronin. He soon shrugged off the Irishman though and got onto the leader’s tail, putting him under a lot of pressure for a number of laps.
Slater dropped back to eighth on lap one, but he fought back well to fourth behind Cronin. Those two, plus Smith behind, closed on to the top two and made it a five-way fight at one stage. Phelps continued to lead the way though and would soon benefit from the battling behind.
Cuthbert ran wide at Becketts on lap 14, taking Cronin on the outside with him, which opened the door for Slater to dive down the inside of both for second place. Cuthbert slotted back into third, with Cronin unlucky to drop back to fifth behind Smith.
That moment allowed Phelps to go two seconds clear at the front and he extended that gap en-route to his second win of the day. Slater just fended off Cuthbert in a photo-finish for second, only 0.037s separating them at the line as Cuthbert took his second rookie class win.
Cronin pulled off a late move on Smith for fourth, however a post-race penalty switched those positions back. There was a great battle for sixth behind. Coronel emerged from a close-fought trio in sixth ahead of Livesey and Carney on the road, however another track limits penalty for Livesey put him back to ninth behind Carney and Ellis. Watts rounded out the top ten from Clark, Forrest and Cameron.
Sunday
Phelps’ race two win put him on pole position for the final race of the event. His closest rival in the points, Slater, was alongside him on the front row though and he grabbed the lead heading down the Wellington Straight for the first time.
Phelps briefly lost second to Cuthbert but fought back to slot in behind his title rival. A pivotal moment of the race came on lap three, as both Phelps and Cuthbert moved to the outside of Slater at Becketts and all three of them ended up running off circuit.
Slater recovered to the tarmac in the lead ahead of Smith and Cronin. He briefly had a comfortable gap at the front as his rivals swapped second back and forth behind him, however they soon worked together and used the tow to close onto the leader’s rear bumper.
Behind, Phelps had fallen to seventh and needed to make progress behind to revive his title bid, enjoying a close duel with Coronel for a few laps. The pack ahead were battling hard though, with Livesey, Cuthbert and Carney trading places before the latter sadly spun at Copse and dropped to the back.
That moment closed up the groups to make it a six-car battle over fourth position. Phelps pulled out a crucial double move through Copse corner on lap 13 to pass both Cuthbert and Coronel, which moved him up to fifth place behind Livesey.
That wouldn’t be enough to secure him the title unless Slater lost ground ahead though, with the fight at the front going down to the final lap of the race. Cronin dived past Slater into Becketts to take the lead, with Smith following him through to take second.
As Cronin scored his second win in Ginetta Junior racing, Smith took a first overall podium finish and rookie class win to sign off his series debut. Slater had to settle for third, a result that ultimately put him third in the final points standings as Cronin earned the runners-up spoils.
Phelps finished fifth on the road, however post-race he received a one-place penalty to put him behind Cuthbert. Livesey was fourth meanwhile, however he was deemed at fault for the aforementioned incident with Carney and a last lap incident that led to Coronel spinning at Copse too.
A ten-place penalty for Livesey put him back to 14th and ensured that fourth and fifth in the final classification were enough to secure Cuthbert and Phelps the rookie and overall titles respectively. Coronel’s spin out of sixth meant that Ellis ended up rounding out the top six.
Forrest put in an impressive drive from 12th on the grid to a weekend-high seventh place finish and a rookie podium. Behind Watts, Cameron was another to score his best result of the event in ninth, while Clark completed the top ten ahead of Coronel, Carney, Lindblom and Livesey.
Full 2024 Ginetta Junior Winter Series race results can be found at: www.tsl-timing.com/event/244456
All three races can be watched back at: www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
Focus now turns to the 2025 Ginetta race season, with the opening rounds of the Junior Championship, GT Championship and GT Academy coming up at Donington Park over the weekend of 05/06 April.
All images from Jakob Ebrey Photography.
