The Ginetta Junior Championship rolled into Rockingham at the weekend (August 26/27), and it proved to be a successful weekend for Douglas Motorsport’s Daniel Harper.

With two pole positions earned as a result of this two fastest laps in qualifying, his haul of two wins and a second place finish was his most successful result to date in his Ginetta Junior career, and it closes the gap on the top two drivers in the championship. Harper is in 3rd place now, only 16 points behind leader Tom Gamble. He has given himself a great chance of an overall championship win.

Daniel Harper –

This was my best ever weekend in the championship and I’m ecstatic. Two pole positions, two race wins and a second place, I really can’t ask for much more than that! It’s absolutely amazing and we really didn’t expect a weekend like this after a difficult Friday.

“Qualifying was superb for us and really set us up to fight for the wins like this. I really enjoyed all of the races, the racing was close and fair, and to come away with three more podium finishes continues our really strong start to the second half of the season.

“The results have put us right back into the championship fight and we’ve just got to keep going the way we are and try to carry this momentum into the remaining races. I’m really looking forward to going to Silverstone and hopefully we can enjoy another weekend like this.”

Race  2 saw Kiern Jewiss start on Pole, with Harper one row back. Harper was able to make up places early on, and a mighty battle for the lead followed throughout the race. By the penultimate lap Harper had taken the lead, but Jewiss fought hard and found a way round his teammate to secure his first win!

Race 2 also saw Douglas Motorsport’s Tom Canning take his 2nd podium finish of this year’s championship, which meant Douglas Motorsport occupied the top two podium places in both the main and rookie races.

The stats for the weekend racing make for interesting reading – 2 Pole positions, Two cars on front row in race 1, 1 race win, 2 double podiums, 2 Rookie wins, a double podium in the Rookie class.in race 2.

The results from Knockhill mean the overall championship is wide open. Jewiss and Harper occupy places 3 and 4 in the standings and are both in contention for the championship, while Kiern Jewiss extends his huge lead in the Rookie championship.

Rockingham is next on the weekend of August 26th/27th

Knockhill Gallery:

Race 2 was, as always with Ginetta Juniors, a frenetic affair. Kiern Jewiss was on pole position once again due to his brilliant qualifying performance. Although he lost the lead from the start, he was able to regain it and stay at the front for most of the race, while everybody else jostled for position behind.

However, on the penultimate lap, second placed Gamble made a move for the lead, a move that ended with both himself and Jewiss on the grass coming out of the Bomb Hole. Kiern was able to keep going and got the car home in 5th position and some valuable points. The incident meant Dan Harper was now in second place, and he finished the race in second. However, a track limits penalty for several drivers saw the win handed to Dan, his second win of the day and valuable points in the overall championship. To add to this win, Connor Grady was able to bring his Ginetta home in 4th place which meant 3 cars in the top 5 for Douglas Motorsport.

On Sunday, race 3 saw Dan Harper on Pole. But, pole was proving to be an unlucky starting position this weekend, he fell back a number of places to 5th. Meanwhile, Kiern Jewiss, who started in 5th position, was in second place by the end of lap 1, and took the lead on lap 2. He would remain there until the last lap when he was passed, but he challenged all the way to the line, missing out on P1 by only .076s.

Meanwhile, Connor Grady was involved in a battle throughout the race but did well to finish in 9th. Tom Canning was 11th, just missing out on 4 Douglas drivers in the top 10. In the rookie competition Canning was 6th, 5th and d 5th respectively, a competition in which Kiern Jewiss is stretching his lead after every outing. He had two rookie wins and a rookie second place. His eyes, however, are on the big prize. He sits in third, while Dan Harper is in joint 4th, only 5 points behind.

It looks like the rest of this competition is going to go down to the wire. Well done to all the Douglas Motorsport team and roll on the rest of the season.

Snetterton Gallery: