Green Takes Superb Ginetta Junior Hat-Trick At Croft

Fred Green has strengthened his title challenge in the Ginetta Junior Championship with a sensational hat-trick of victories in the penultimate round of the 20^th anniversary season at Croft this past weekend (06/07 September).

Qualifying

Green (Elite Motorsport) headed into the event needing to outscore points leader Rocco Coronel (R Racing) to take their title battle into the season finale. He got his weekend off to the perfect start by securing his second double pole position of the season, matching his exploits from Snetterton.

Ethan Carney scored his best ever qualifying result in second ahead of Colin Cronin, making it an Elite Motorsport one-two-three at the top of the times. Behind George Proudford-Nalder (MDD Racing), Brands Hatch debutant Lewis Goff (ProjectR) was a brilliant fifth overall in only his second-ever qualifying session.

Scott Kin Lindblom (R Racing) rounded out the top six overall ahead of team-mate Coronel, who emerged with his lowest qualifying result of the year, while Emmilio Del Grosso (Elite Motorsport) qualified in the top ten for the first time in eighth.

Race One

Green converted pole position into the race lead at the start of the opening race on Saturday. Carney briefly held second before getting shuffled back a few places at the end of lap two, with Cronin slotting into second as Lindblom passed Proudford-Nalder for third on lap five.

The top four broke away from the pack and ran in close formation through the race. Green briefly looked under pressure from Cronin, but held the lead throughout for victory, as Cronin defended hard in the final laps to secure a long-awaited first podium of 2025. The one-two finish for Elite ensured they reached the milestone of 250 podium finishes in Ginetta Junior racing.

Lindblom went on to complete the podium ahead of Proudford-Nalder, Goff and Carney. For Coronel meanwhile, the lower qualifying position put him in the thick of the action and he hit trouble on lap two, as a three wide move into the Complex sent him, Del Grosso and Alfie Slater (R Racing) off track.

Coronel recovered to the circuit in 19^th and produced an exceptional recovery drive from there, scything his way through the field to eighth at the chequered flag behind Max Cuthbert (R Racing). Torrin Byrne finished ninth, with his Pace Performance team-mate Harry Bartle having also been on course for a top ten finish before a late pitstop for a tyre change.

Raul Zunzarren (MKH Racing) ended up rounding out the top ten ahead of Josh Watts (Performance One) and Joshua Henry (Elite Motorsport). Slater fought back from 20^th after the early incident to 13^th on the road, however post-race he was disqualified from the results due to causing two collisions.

Del Grosso therefore finished up 13^th, while Felipe Reijs (R Racing) was next up on the road before receiving penalties for track limits infringements and causing a collision. Jarrett Clark (R Racing) was classified 14^th, having fought back after dropping to the back of the field on the opening lap.

Henry Cameron (Fox Motorsport) equalled his best race result of the season in 15^th ahead of fellow points finishers Matthew Chiwara (Tim Gray Motorsport), Reijs, Revie Lake (Elite Motorsport), Bartle and Noah Young (Performance One).

Race Two

Green once again led away from pole position in race two, with Proudford-Nalder slotting in behind him from the front row. Following an early safety car period, the top two broke away from the battling pack behind and ran nose-to-tail for a number of laps in an intense duel for victory.

Proudford-Nalder eventually made his challenge on the final lap, with a brilliant move around the outside of Tower giving him the lead going through the Esses. Green hit back into Sunny In though and defended to the flag for the win, with Proudford-Nalder settling for a seasons’ best second place.

Goff held third place through to the early safety car period, while an off-track moment for Cronin dropped him from fourth to 17^th on the opening lap. Lindblom and Coronel had worked their way into the top five at that stage, both getting ahead of Carney.

After the restart, Lindblom immediately passed Goff for third into Tower. Positions switched back at the hairpin later in the lap though, with Coronel following Goff through to put Lindblom back to fifth. Their battle continued next time round, with Coronel losing out as he slid off track at the Complex.

The Dutchman recovered to seventh position and quickly looked to regain the lost ground, passing Slater and Cuthbert on consecutive laps to get onto the back of the Goff and Lindblom battle again. Those two had been continuing to trade positions, before a slide wide at Sunny In lost Goff positions.

Coronel followed that with a move on his Red Bull Junior Team stablemate Lindblom into the hairpin to secure himself the final position on the podium. A four-car battle played out for fifth in the closing laps, with Slater securing the place after a good drive through from 12^th on the grid.

Bartle was another to make good progress as he climbed from 11^th to a top six finish ahead of Goff, while Cronin fought back impressively from 17^th at the end of lap one to eighth. Cuthbert had been right in the mix for a top six finish before an incident at the hairpin spun him back to 18^th in the end.

Carney and Zunzarren went on to round out the top ten on the road, however the latter received a two-place position penalty for causing a collision. That put him behind Byrne and Clark, who had dropped back to 20^th after an early off-track moment and fought back well to 11^th in the final result.

Young climbed up seven places through the race to finish 13^th ahead of Lake, Cameron, Chiwara and Henry. Del Grosso took the chequered flag in 18^th, however he also received a two-place position penalty for causing a collision, so was finally classified in 20^th behind Cuthbert and Reijs.

Race Three

The Junior grid faced a tricky change of weather conditions for the final race of the weekend as torrential rain fell over North Yorkshire. Green wasn’t fazed by the wet surface and charged away from pole position, building a lead of 1.6 seconds within the opening two laps.

Proudford-Nalder maintained second in the early stages, as Coronel and Lindblom traded third place between them on the opening lap. Green continued to pull clear at the front meanwhile before the emergence of the safety car, after Bartle spun out of sixth position.

It was a similar story at the front of the field when the action resumed, with Green once again looking unstoppable. Proudford-Nalder was on the defensive though and lost out to Coronel through Tower on lap seven, before Lindblom and Carney also got ahead at the hairpin later in the lap.

Coronel set his sights on Green in front and started to close the gap, before a trip over the grass at Sunny In dropped him behind Lindblom. That gave Green the breathing room to complete his Croft hat-trick and make it seven wins for the season so far, ahead of Red Bull duo Lindblom and Coronel.

Carney finished up fourth, with Cronin impressively climbing from 13^th on the grid to fifth at the flag. Proudford-Nalder and Slater were battling it out for sixth on the final lap when they made contact and spun at the Complex, opening the door for Cuthbert to round out the top six after a great drive from 18^th on the grid.

Clark and Byrne also benefitted from the incident to finish seventh and eighth respectively, with Proudford-Nalder and Slater recovering to top ten finishes. Del Grosso made impressive progress through the race from 20^th on the grid to 11^th.

Goff lost out in the tricky conditions and dropped to 12^th in the end ahead of Lake, Henry and Reijs. Young, Cameron and Chiwara completed the race finishers, as Zunzarren and Watts joined Bartle in seeing their races end in retirement.

In the Freshmans Cup, a class for car-racing rookies with no previous national-level karting experience, Cameron scored his first class victory since the season opener at Donington Park. Young and Lake also scored a win, as all three drivers completed podium hat-tricks.

Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/253631

All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv

The 2025 Ginetta Junior Championship season finale takes place next month (04/05 October), with Rocco Coronel or Fred Green set to be crowned the new champion across three races around the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit.