Preview: 2025 Ginetta Junior Championship – Donington Park
The Ginetta Junior Championship is set to launch its landmark 20th anniversary season in spectacular fashion this weekend. 2025 has the largest opening round grid in series history ready to put on a show across three races at Donington Park.
20 years on from its launch in 2005, the Ginetta Junior Championship is bigger and better than ever heading into the new campaign. No less than 28 talented drivers are ready to start the campaign in refreshed Ginetta G40 Junior Evo cars, with more drivers lined up to join the grid later in the year.
R Racing
R Racing celebrated title glory last season and return to defend their crown with a capacity six-car entry. Headlining that is two members of the Red Bull Junior Team, Rocco Coronel and Scott Kin Lindblom, who bring the iconic Red Bull livery to Ginetta machinery for the first time.
Alfie Slater is the highest-placed returning driver from 2024 and will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of his brother – 2023 champion Freddie Slater – and challenge for the top prize, while Max Cuthbert is ready to build on a brilliant performance in the season-ending Winter Series.
As R Racing aim for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title, Elite Motorsport are determined to regain the crown they last won in 2020. They’ve recruited two front-runners from last season to support this goal. Colin Cronin, a race-winner at Donington Park in September, and Ethan Carney are part of their six-car line-up.
Felix Livesey (MDD Racing) is one to watch as the most experienced driver on the grid. He has almost sixty Junior starts under his belt. Torrin Byrne (Pace Performance) and brothers Mahlori and Ntiyiso Mabunda (both RAB Sport) also return from the class of 2024.
Multinational grid
The Junior Championship’s global appeal has attracted young talents from all around the world for the new season. This is the most multinational grid in series history. It will feature drivers representing ten different nationalities across five continents.
The Mabunda brothers are amongst a group of five South African racers this year, joined by Luviwe Sambudla (RAB Sport), Matthew Chiwara (Tim Gray Motorsport) and Ethan Lennon (Pace Performance). Venezuela and Malaysia will be represented in the series for the first time in 2025 meanwhile, by Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso (Elite Motorsport) and Katrina Ee (Tim Gray Motorsport) respectively.
Del Grosso is one of four rookies at Elite, alongside Joseph Smith and Revie Lake. They are joined by the latest winner of the coveted Ginetta Junior Scholarship, Fred Green. R Racing’s rookie contingent includes Jarrett Clark and Felipe Reijs, while Fox Motorsport are entering Henry Cameron and Freddie Lloyd.
MKH Racing
MKH Racing are one of four new teams on the grid this season, running Raúl Zunzarren and Harry Bartle. Noah Young (Performance One) and George Proudford-Nalder (MDD Racing) are fellow debutants. Completing the grid with Tim Gray Motorsport are Joshua Henry and Josh Watts. These two drivers have previous car-racing experience to build upon.
Follow the action across the weekend on social media, @GinettaCars.
Provisional Timetable:
Saturday 05 April: Qualifying 11:20; Race One 16:55
Sunday 06 April: Race Two 09:10; Race Three 15:35
All three Donington Park 2025 opening races will be streamed live on Ginetta’s YouTube channel. Live timing and results will be available via TSL Timing.