GINETTAS ENTERTAIN AT DONINGTON PARK COME RAIN OR SHINE
The trio of Ginetta championships had to battle the elements over their latest weekend of racing on the British GT Championship package, as the Juniors, GT Academy and GT Championship all tackled the full GP layout of Donington Park in Leicestershire.
The Ginetta Junior Championship saw a first pole for Chase Fernandez, who was also making his first appearance for his brand new team after switching to R Racing. He came under threat for the lead in race one from Henry Joslyn whose attempt was blocked at Coppice which dropped him to sixth. Fernandez escaped in the lead while a recovering Joslyn, Charlie Hart and Marcus Saeter all dueled over the podium places, but while Fernandez crossed the line first, his defence of Joslyn was deemed to be too robust and was demoted one place post-race. This gave Joslyn victory, while Charlie Hart, Ethan Jeff-Hall and Saeter completed the top five.
In the damp conditions on Sunday morning, race two saw Joslyn lead from pole ahead of Hart and Fernandez, his cause helped by a safety car for stranded cars in the gravel. Despite attacks from all sides on the restart, Joslyn kept his cool and converted the remaining laps into his second win of the weekend, with Fernandez and Saeter joining him on the podium ahead of Hart and Jeff-Hall.
Fernandez perfectly timed a first lap pass for the lead on Saeter before an early safety car neutralised race three. A slick restart gave Fernandez enough breathing space to keep Joslyn and Isaac Phelps at bay, driving on to claim his first Ginetta Junior win of the season. Saeter and Archie Clark completed the top five.
In the Ginetta GT Academy, a first corner incident forced a restart to race one, and once underway a second time it was advantage Luke Shaw as he maximised the clear space on the front row to lead every single lap from the restart to the premature finish to the race after an incident at Coppice. Shaw was declared the victor ahead of Thomas Balfe and Harry Gamble, while Amy Tomlinson topped the GTA class.
James Nicholas stole the lead from Shaw into Redgate beginning race two and mastered the damp conditions to head the pack with Luke on his tail in second. The two drivers were essentially inseparable for the duration, with Nicholas adding to his 2024 win tally by just 0.750 at the flag from Shaw with Mike Taylor in third. Harry Gamble and Gareth Thomas ensured a Rookie lockout of the top five, as Marc Elman was top GTA runner.
With the two race winners on the front row again for race three, it was initially advantage Nicholas as he ran away to his second win of the weekend, while Shaw ran second before dropping backwards to an eventual P5 finish. While Nicholas took the flag first, Gamble and Mike Taylor completed the podium from Thomas and Shaw, with Elman again taking the GTA class honours.
Over in the Ginetta GT Championship, all three races saw Mckenzie Cresswell prove his pace all weekend long. From the outset of race one, Cresswell swept into the lead and proved too quick for the rest of the pack to keep up as he dominated from start to finish and took his first victory of the weekend by almost five seconds. He was also top Pro ahead of Am winner Mark White on the road, the rest of the top five completed by Pro drivers Luke Garlick, Ben McKenna and Conner Garlick.
The weather conditions may have taken a turn on Sunday morning for race two, but that wouldn’t slow down Cresswell for one moment as he proved to be the rain master and quite literally sailed away out in front! This time his winning margin was a more substantial 13 seconds while Am winner White again took second overall, followed by the Garlick brothers Luke and Conner and Ben McKenna in the top five.
On a dry and sunny track for race three, the hat-trick was completed for Mckenzie as he again stamped his authority on the pack. At the flag, he was another five seconds ahead of the rest with Luke Garlick and Mckenna in tow on the overall and Pro podium, with Am winner White also completing a class hat-trick ahead of Conner Garlick.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
