2022 Ginetta Race Report: Donington Park

Donington Park played host to six fantastic Ginetta races this past weekend (23/24 April), as the stars of the Junior Championship and GT5 Challenge put on a show across the opening British Touring Car Championship event of the year.

An exciting season opener for the Juniors saw the teenage talents serve up some enthralling racing, with Harri Reynolds and Josh Rowledge laying down an early marker as the drivers to beat this season. Reynolds took two wins to Rowledge’s one, with both drivers completing podium hat-tricks.

It was rookie Sonny Smith who topped the timesheets in qualifying and he followed that up with a great second place in the opener. The other driver to feature in the overall top three was Joe Warhurst, who impressed with second and third place results.

As part of the ongoing partnership with Ginetta, Millers Oils are continuing to support the Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner. The latest victor is Alisha Palmowski, who enjoyed a great debut as she joined William Macintyre, Kanato Le and others in scoring rookie class podium finishes.

After an exciting season opener at Oulton Park a week prior, the GT5 Challenge made its first of three appearances alongside the BTCC this season. A great weekend of racing produced three different race-winners; Will Orton, Will Jenkins and Connor Grady.

Orton swept through to his first Ginetta race win in the opening encounter before former Junior front-runner Jenkins took his second win of the season. He was on course to enjoy further success in race three before a late issue opened the door for Grady to secure his second victory of 2022.

Points leader Nat Hodgkiss was in the mix for the race wins as he added a couple of podiums to his tally, with Harley Haughton, Harry Mangion and Ruben Hage also taking home silverware. In the championship’s Am class, Chris White took two wins and Alastair Topley scored a debut victory.

The next round of the British Touring Car Championship comes in three weeks at Brands Hatch in Brands Hatch, with the Juniors in action alongside the 2022 season opener for the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup.