GINETTA TOUCHES DOWN AT DONINGTON PARK FOR BRITISH GT SUPPORT
Gearing up to support the British GT Championship for the third time this year, Ginetta’s trio of factory series prepare to make their first visit of the season to Donington Park, with the GT Championship, GT Academy and Ginetta Junior Championship all eager to carry on where they left off at a damp and wet Silverstone GP circuit.
The young guns of the Ginetta Junior Championship put on a junior racing clinic at Silverstone with a trio of clean and entertaining races that produced three different winners. Henry Joslyn, Marcus Saeter and Ethan Jeff-Hall all took to the top step over the course of that weekend, but none of them are top of the standings going to Donington Park. Despite the live stream commentators dubbing him “Second Place Charlie”, Charlie Hart’s sheer consistency has elevated him to the top of the points and is clear by 14. His five second places in a row ensured he bagged solid scores from the first two weekends at Oulton Park and Silverstone, and a first win must surely be on the cards soon.
Isaac Phelps maintained second place despite missing out on the podium at Silverstone, ahead of Jeff-Hall, Joslyn and Chase Fernandez in the top five. Saeter, meanwhile, has work to do from sixth place currently but strong efforts at Silverstone helped him to recover from a tough Oulton. Every driver in the top six has taken all the podium finishes between them to date, so if anyone seventh downwards wants to break through, they’ll have to pull out all the stops.
In the GT Academy, the revelation of the season so far has been Palmer Sport Scholarship winner James Nicholas. From five starts, the rookie has already won three races after he triumphed first time out at Oulton Park, then mastered the wet conditions at Silverstone to claim both. Even so, Nicholas is second in the Rookie class behind Harry Gamble, on the podium in all five races so far with a win at Oulton to his name. These two appear to be the initial standout Rookies as Donington Park approaches.
Mike Taylor, Luke Shaw and Peter Thompson currently round off the Rookie top five, each of them with at least one podium finish so far and each will be keen to carry on making progress and building on the form shown. Over in the main GT Academy class, Julian Wantling has been near unstoppable with four of the five victories available going his way thus far. His advantage is already 30 points strong out in front , leaving Marc Elman, Amy and Emma Tomlinson and Mike West with the task of trying to close him down.
Last but by no means least, the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship has seen quite the level of competition in the early stages of this season. Five points cover the top three in the Pro class standings – McKenzie Cresswell leads heading to Donington Park, but only by two points from Luke Garlick, with his brother Connor Garlick only another three back in third. If this trio remains close all weekend, expect fireworks between them.
Over in the Am class, Nick White is currently on a run of four victories in a row and after dominating Silverstone, he must feel as though momentum is on his side to continue this streak. Incredibly, he’s already a staggering 76 points ahead of second placed Matt Shaw at this stage, with Paul Livesey, Peter Mangion and Shawn Fleming completing the top five.
Make sure to watch all of the action from all three championships LIVE via the Ginetta TV channel on YouTube.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
