Review of the Ginetta Junior Championship at Croft Circuit, 18-19 July

The Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship visited Croft circuit last weekend, once again supporting the BTCC and racing in front of capacity crowds as well as live TV cameras.

Croft Race Circuit

Address: Croft Circuit, West Lane. Dalton On Tees, North Yorkshire, DL2 2PL

Website: www.croftcircuit.co.uk

Circuit Length: 2.12 miles

In qualifying, Stuart Middleton produced a stunning lap for pole. Not only was he the only driver to break the 1m 40s barrier, but he became the only driver to qualify on pole twice in 2016 in this ultra competitive class. Rookie class leader Daniel Harper impressed once again with seventh, whilst Enzo Fittipaldi, as predicted by team boss Wayne Douglas, continued to improve with 10th on the grid.

In race one, Middleton made no mistakes to take an impressive lights to flag win, crossing the line 8 tenths of a second ahead of his nearest challenger for his fourth win of 2016. This also put the Douglas Motorsport driver back at the head of the title standings. Team mate Harper had another great run, shadowing runner up Seb Priaulx for the duration to take his fourth overall podium of the season. Fittipaldi was embroiled in a hectic race for 10th, eventually crossing the line 13th and sixth of the Rookies.

In race two, Middleton again made the perfect start to lead the pack away, whilst team mate Harper snatched Fittipaldi-Podium-01second from Priaulx on the opening lap to make it a Douglas Motorsport 1-2 at the head of the field.

Harper shadowed his team mate all the way to the flag for a superb result- Middleton increasing his championship lead and his younger team mate taking Rookie Cup honours once again. Fittipaldi finished 12th and fourth Rookie.

Race three, however, was a very different affair, as Douglas Motorsport were about to find out, with both Middleton and Harper being tagged and spun out on the opening lap. Middleton and Priaulx touched with the series leader being eliminated from the race immediately whilst Harper was knocked well down the order. Douglas Motorsport honour was to be upheld however, by the ever improving Fittipaldi who drove superbly to come home home eighth and take his maiden Rookie Cup victory, with the recovering Harper just behind.

Wayne Douglas, Team Principal, Douglas Motorsport “The first two races were exactly what we worked for. Race three? Well, sometimes that’s just motor racing. Overall it was a good weekend for us and I am delighted with Enzo’s first Rookie Cup win and we now lead both the overall championship with Stuart and the Rookie Cup with Daniel.”

Race Preview by Ginetta.com

Will Tregurtha (HHC) arrives at Croft having snatched the championship lead by just a single point at Oulton Park a fortnight ago. The HHC driver became the 13^th different pole sitter in 14 meetings, an advantage he translated into a pair of wins.

As we reach the mid-point of the championship at Croft, Stuart Middleton (Douglas) will be doing everything he can to reclaim the series lead, and having been on the podium seven out of the nine races ran thus far, you can expect to see him running at the sharp end.

Don’t discount Dave Wooder (TCR) and Lewis Brown (HHC) though, the pair have each shone in recent meetings. Wooder took his maiden win at Thruxton whilst Brown celebrated victory at Donington Park and between them, have taken eight overall podiums whilst busy fighting over third in the driver standings.

Fifth overall and leading the Rookie class is Daniel Harper (Douglas). He failed to score any points at Oulton Park due to a pair of retirements, and you can be certain he will be looking to make hay here as he aims to extend his advantage over closest class opponent Tom Gamble (HHC).

Splitting the two rookie rivals are Geri Nicosia (Elite), Cameron Roberts (JHR) and Charlie Fagg (HHC), with the latter celebrating his best result yet at Oulton Park as he made his 2016 podium debut with second place in the opening race, a positive result he compounded with fourth in race two, moving him well up the championship standings.

Behind Harper, the rest of the rookie top five are split by just five points. Gamble leapfrogged Seb Priaulx (JHR) to take second in class after the latter struggled in the races at Oulton although he did claim a front row start following qualifying. With one of the strongest Rookie contingent than ever before, Harry King (Elite) claimed his first rookie podiums of the year with a win and third in class meaning he now sits just one point adrift of Max Bird (TCR) in class.

Elsewhere, JHR will be hoping some strong results at Croft will help Kyle Hornby, Seb Perez and Cameron Roberts’ title bids, whilst Enzo Fittipaldi is hoping for more luck in his Douglas Motorsport prepared car. Completing the grid are Tom Wood (Elite), who has already made a number of Rookie class podium appearances this year, as well as Anthony Ayres (Mectech) and Connor Grady (TCR).

With three races instead of the usual two, it’s set to be another exciting weekend for the teenage racers as their inter-championship battles begin to become even more exciting. Make sure you never miss a minute by following @GinettaCars on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Preview of the weekend’s action:

Race Timetable

Practice

Practice, Friday 18th June

Practice 1:

Practice Session 2:

The Ginetta Junior drivers took to the track for two sessions on Friday. Douglas drivers took a 1-2 in the second session, with Stuart Middleton leading Daniel Harper.

Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 10:25.

Qualifying

Stuart Middleton took his second pole of the season, while Enzo Fittipaldi took 10th position and his best qualifying result of the championship. Daniel Harper starts in P7.