Race Report: Silverstone

The first Ginetta champions of 2021 were crowned at Silverstone this past weekend (25/26 September) as the Ginetta GT Academy and Ginetta Junior Championship put on a show in front of a huge crowd at the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’.

The GT Academy is Ginetta’s new-for-2021 entry level GT championship, with leading talents Toby Trice and Angus Whiteside writing their names into the record books as the series’ inaugural class champions following dominant seasons.

Rookie class champion Whiteside was the star of the show over the Silverstone weekend. Finishing quickest in qualifying on Saturday morning, he then bounced back from a race one retirement to take a commanding pair of lights-to-flag victories.

Trice meanwhile fought back from a tough qualifying session to score the points needed to wrap up the GTA class title. Climbing to fourth in race one, he then scythed his way through the field from 17th to seventh in race two, before sealing the title with a 10th podium finish of the season.

Also impressing in Northamptonshire with GTA class victories were Martin Wills and Thomas Holland, the latter on his debut weekend in the series. Gilbert Yates scored a rookie win, while Edward Acres and Darren Leung secured podium hat-tricks.

In the Ginetta Juniors, it was an important weekend for Aston Millar as he extended his championship lead with a third victory of the campaign. The R Racing ace picked up a second place finish as well, to put him 35 points clear with six races to go.

Liam McNeilly and Seb Hopkins remain his closest competition in the standings, with just one point splitting them in second and third. While McNeilly had a tough three races over the weekend, Hopkins was battling for the wins and picked up an 11th podium of the year.

Silverstone was a meeting to remember for Will Jenkins meanwhile, as he got a first race win in the championship as part of a podium treble. Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner Robert de Haan was the other race victor following a brilliant drive in his Millers Oils liveried Ginetta G40.

The Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup will now return alongside the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship for the final two meetings of the season, with a visit to Donington Park in two weeks’ time (09/10 October) followed by the season finale at Brands Hatch (23/24 October).

Find out more about Millers Oils’ technical partnership with Ginetta: https://www.millersoils.co.uk/ginetta-cars-extends-technical-partnership-with-millers-oils-to-2024/