The 2024 Ginetta Junior champion will receive a £50,000 scholarship towards a seat in the 2025 GB4 Championship, it was confirmed today (Friday 26 April). Ginetta Cars and GB4 promoter MotorSport Vision (MSV) will jointly contribute to the prize fund – one of the largest ever seen at this level of UK motorsport.
The Ginetta Junior Championship and GB4 both feature on the prestigious British GT package for the majority of their events, with a growing number of drivers progressing from Ginetta Juniors into GB4 the following season. The full £50,000 scholarship will be awarded to this year’s Ginetta Junior champion, should they decide to pursue a move into GB4.
Seven Ginetta Junior graduates have made their single-seater debut in GB4 since 2022, including two of this year’s front-runners: Alisha Palmowski and Finn Harrison. Four of those seven graduates have won GB4 races, including Palmowski, who triumphed in the first round of the current season at Oulton Park.
Three Ginetta Junior teams, Elite Motorsport, Fox Motorsport and Preptech UK, also operate GB4 machinery, and between those three squads, 13 drivers featured in the season-opening Ginetta Junior rounds at Oulton Park during Easter weekend.
Ginetta Junior is the most renowned development category in the UK for drivers as young as 14 who are aiming for a professional career either in single-seaters or sports cars. Five recent winners of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award are amongst the series alumni, including Williams F1-backed Formula 2 front-runner Zak O’Sullivan, and fellow GB3 champion Luke Browning, who also benefits from Williams F1 support as he leads the FIA Formula 3 Championship standings. F1 star Lando Norris is another to have won the Award, having started his car racing career in Ginetta Junior.
Last year’s GB3 champion Callum Voisin also made his car racing debut in Ginetta Junior machinery, with other notable alumni including F2 race winner Enzo Fittipaldi, BTCC champion Tom Ingram, multiple W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, British GT champions Seb Morris and Dan Harper, Porsche ace Harry King and British rising star Freddie Slater, who was the dominant winner last season.
MSV Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer said: “Ginetta Juniors has a long history of being the junior championship where drivers serious about trying to make it to the highest level learn and put themselves on the talent map. Whether they end up in F1 or professional GT racing, the pedigree of the championship winners is outstanding. To reinforce that we are providing one of the biggest prize funds ever at this level, to make a substantial contribution to the budget they will need to start their single seater career path with GB4.
“GB4 is now well established as by far the best value series at its performance level, and itself has another £50,000 available to the championship winner on their path to GB3 or British F4, with an additional €30,000 prize fund towards an F1 Academy budget for the top female driver. It is not just important but so exciting to be establishing a career pathway for the most successful drivers, providing what they need more than anything else – money!”
Ginetta Cars Chairman and CEO Lawrence Tomlinson said: “Over the last 20 years Ginetta have been delighted to see their investment in the world’s best junior race series help drivers achieve their goals. Top race teams and promotors around the world recognise how good Ginetta Junior alumni are, ex Ginetta drivers regularly top the timing screens in F1, GT, Le Mans Prototype and Hypercar machinery.
“Ginetta has a long association with MSV, the aligned goals of the individuals behind the organisations make for a bright future in British Junior motorsport, and we look forward to, and plan for, the next 20 years.”