Rocco Coronel and Alfie Slater shared the wins as the 20th anniversary season of the Ginetta Junior Championship got underway with three thrilling races at Donington Park (05/06 April).
In Qualifying, the honour of the first pole position of the season went the way of the 2025 Ginetta Junior scholarship winner Fred Green (Elite Motorsport). Remarkably less than a tenth of a second split the top three drivers, with R Racing pair Scott Kin Lindblom and Slater close behind – the latter taking the race two pole on second fastest times.
Coronel (R Racing) made it two Red Bull Junior Team drivers in the top four overall with Lindblom. Torrin Byrne took his and Pace Performance’s best-ever Junior qualifying result in fifth overall, while 2024 Donington Park race-winner Colin Cronin (Fox Motorsport) completed the top six.
Race One
The opening race that afternoon laid down a marker for the season ahead, with an enthralling encounter featuring close-fought action throughout the grid. At the front of the field, a brilliant three-way battle for victory played out between Green, Lindblom and Slater.
The fight began straight from the off, with Lindblom grabbing the lead from Green on the run to Mcleans, before Slater moved ahead exiting the Esses to finish off lap one in front. Slater would go on to lead from Lindblom and Green through an early safety car period.
Soon after the action restarted, Green grabbed second from Lindblom heading out of Coppice. He stuck to the rear bumper of Slater out front and got a run exiting the Old Hairpin on the penultimate lap, but the leader was able to hold on and went on to secure his maiden race victory.
That result saw him follow in his older brother Freddie’s footsteps as a Junior race-winner, making them only the fourth set of siblings ever to enjoy wins in the championship. Behind, Lindblom put in a good challenge for second place on the final lap, but Green held him off to take the rookie class win.
Fantastic early action came in the battle for fourth place, with Coronel, Byrne and then Cronin holding the position prior to the safety car. Cronin maintained control of that group after the restart, with battling between Coronel and Byrne allowing Joseph Smith (Elite Motorsport) to slip past both.
Cronin, Smith and Coronel went on to complete the top six at the chequered flag, while Byrne dropped back to tenth by the finish. Max Cuthbert (R Racing) came home seventh ahead of Felix Livesey (MDD Racing), however the latter was disqualified post-race due to a technical infringement.
Ethan Lennon (Pace Performance) completed an impressive debut in eighth place, while a stunning opening race performance from Freddie Lloyd (Fox Motorsport) saw him charge through the field from 27th on the grid to ninth in the final result.
Jarrett Clark (R Racing) emerged from a close-fought battle in 11th ahead of George Proudford-Nalder (MDD Racing) and Harry Bartle (MKH Racing), though Proudford-Nalder was another to be disqualified post-race. Emmilio Del Grosso (Elite Motorsport) finished up 13th on the final result therefore ahead of Felipe Reijs (R Racing).
Henry Cameron (Fox Motorsport) moved up five places from his grid position to finish 15th ahead of Noah Young, Raul Zunzarren and Mahlori Mabunda – drivers representing three new teams on the grid for 2025; Performance One, MKH Racing and RAB Sport respectively.
Race Two
The teenage talents kicked off the racing on Sunday and served up another entertaining encounter. Slater started on pole and led the field through Redgate for the first time ahead of Coronel, Cronin, Lindblom, Green and Byrne.
The top six broke away in the early laps, leaving behind a close battle for seventh. Smith held the place in the early laps before being picked off by Cuthbert and Livesey, the latter having risen from 12th on the grid to eighth inside the opening three laps.
An incident towards the bottom of the top 20 resulted in the safety car being introduced on lap four. When racing resumed soon after, the lead group were bunched together again and Coronel took full advantage to dive down the inside of Slater into Melbourne for the race lead.
Fellow Red Bull ace Lindblom attempted to follow him through, but contact with Slater spun them both around. As Coronel led, the order shuffled behind with Green emerging in second ahead of Byrne, Smith, Cronin, Livesey and Cuthbert with three laps to go.
Coronel comfortably stayed out front to the chequered flag for his maiden car-racing victory ahead of Green. Smith grabbed third at Mcleans on the final lap, but Byrne hit back into Melbourne to secure both his and Pace Performance’s maiden podium finish in the championship.
Lennon impressively picked off both Cronin and Cuthbert on the final lap to finish fifth overall, with Livesey having unfortunately dropped out of that pack on the penultimate lap. Lloyd completed another phenomenal drive through the field behind, going from 27th to eighth on this occasion.
Having dropped back to 15th after his incident, Slater was able to make some quick progress back to ninth in the closing laps. Young was another driver on a charge through the race, going from 23rd on the grid to a top ten finish ahead of Del Grosso, Reijs and Clark.
Ethan Carney (Elite Motorsport), Bartle and Proudford-Nalder were in the battle for the top ten before a late incident dropped them to 18th, 19th and 24th respectively. Ntiyiso Mabunda (RAB Sport) made good progress through the race from 21st to 14th ahead of Zunzarren, Revie Lake (Elite Motorsport) and a recovering Lindblom.
Race Three
The race two result set the grid for the final race of the weekend, meaning Coronel lined up on pole position. The Dutch ace converted that into the early lead ahead of Green and Byrne, while a brilliant opening lap from Slater saw him climb through from ninth on the grid to fourth.
A technical issue for Green dropped him out of second place soon after, meaning that it was Byrne and Slater aiming to close down a one-second gap to Coronel out front when the safety car came out. The action would resume with a final two-lap shootout to the chequered flag.
Slater shot past Byrne heading out of Coppice on the penultimate lap but was unable to mount a challenge on Coronel, who completed his double win for the day. Last lap fighting for third saw Cuthbert dive down the inside of Byrne into Melbourne, sending both wide.
Lloyd tried to take advantage and nip past both of them, but Cuthbert fought back at the final corner to complete an R Racing lockout of the overall podium. Lloyd completed a stunning debut weekend in fourth, with Byrne eventually slipping back to sixth behind Cronin.
Clark and Del Grosso made good progress in the race to secure their best results of the weekend in seventh and eighth respectively, while Lennon recovered from an early off-track moment to finish ninth. One of the drives of the race came from Bartle, who fought forward from 19th to his maiden top ten finish.
After pitting with bonnet damage in the early laps, Smith benefitted from the safety car period to rejoin the back of the field and sensationally moved up 11 places in just two laps to finish 11th. Another big mover was Josh Watts (Tim Gray Motorsport), charging forward from 26th to 12th through the race.
Proudford-Nalder and Livesey had climbed from 24th and 25th on the grid respectively to the fringes of the top ten, however a late incident with Lindblom led to an early conclusion for both MDD Racing drivers and a 20th place finish for Lindblom.
Tim Gray Motorsport duo Joshua Henry and Matthew Chiwara ended their debut weekends with breakthrough points finishes in 17th and 18th respectively, while their team-mate Katrina Ee just missed out on points of her own with a best result of 21st in the opening encounter.
In the Freshmans Cup, a class for car-racing rookies with no previous national-level karting experience, Cameron picked up a pair of victories. Young secured a win of his own too, while Lake and Proudford-Nalder also took home class trophies across the weekend.
Full race results can be found at https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/251405
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The 2025 Ginetta Junior Championship season continues later this month (26/27 April) with three races on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.