Sebastien Leusch and Finlay Lines are level on points at the halfway point of the 2026 Ginetta Junior Winter Series powered by Sunoco Race Fuels after each celebrating their maiden victory on the opening day at Snetterton (24 October).
Qualifying
Topping the timesheets to kick off the weekend was Louis Radcliffe (R Racing), securing his maiden double pole position in Ginetta Juniors. The rookie entrant, who made his Junior debut at Snetterton back in August, impressively set the pace by six tenths of a second.
Sebastien Leusch made it an R Racing one-two ahead of a quartet of Elite Motorsport talents. Jacob Ashcroft, who was quickest in wet conditions in testing on Friday, lapped third fastest ahead of team-mates Ian Danicska, Finlay Lines and Luca Luen.
Race One
In windy but dry conditions, the opening race got underway with the front-row runners managing to keep a fast-starting Ashcroft at bay. The R Racing team-mates started working together at the front in the early stages, running nose-to-tail and building a gap over the chasing pack.
Leusch ramped up the pressure as the race progressed though and started to try and force an overtaking opportunity. That came his way two laps from the end, with a slick move into the Wilson hairpin securing him a maiden win at the scene of his first-ever podiums back in August.
That action allowed Ashcroft and Lines to latch onto the back of the top two and Radcliffe sadly saw an overall podium slip from his grasp as he dropped to fourth on the final lap. Ashcroft finished up second, with Lines securing the rookie class victory in third.
After gaining three places on the opening lap, Dominic Darling (Performance One) enjoyed a comfortable run to fifth. The most exciting battle of the race came over sixth, which was initially held by Anesu Maphumulo (R Racing) as he also rose three positions on lap one.
Noah Baglin (R Racing) and Luen swapped places behind, before both picking off Maphumulo on lap three. The duo continued their duel from there, trading positions multiple times over the next few laps in a thrilling battle around the Snetterton 300 circuit.
Having dropped back from fourth on the grid to 11th on lap one, a determined Danicska was fighting back through the field and joined the back of the group. After passing Maphumulo and Luen, he then pulled off a last lap move on Baglin to grab sixth position and the final spot on the rookie class podium.
Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member Baglin was the highest-placed of the six drivers contesting their first-ever Ginetta Junior race in seventh. The next of those was Luuk Taal (Orion SPR), completing the top ten overall behind Luen and Maphumulo.
Barnaby Brewer (MK Racing) had finished tenth on the road, however a five-second penalty for track limits infringements dropped him to 12th behind Julia Angelard (Elite Motorsport). Charlie Halewood (Orion SPR) completed the finishers, with Rayan Ghandour (R Racing) sadly not reaching the end of his debut race.
Race Two
It was an opening lap full of change to kick off the second race of the day, led by a fast-starting Lines charging forward from fourth on the grid to the race lead inside three corners. Pole-sitter Radcliffe tried to fight back into Agostini, however contact led to him spinning back to 13th.
Ashcroft settled into second behind his Elite Motorsport team-mate, with Baglin another to make rapid progress from eighth on the grid to third. His hold on the position lasted a couple of laps, before race one winner Leusch moved into the top three.
The top two had managed to break away in the meantime though, leading to a straight duel for victory. Ashcroft fought through to the front on lap five, however a mistake at Riches on the final lap opened the door for Lines to celebrate victory in only his fifth-ever Ginetta Junior race.
Leusch finished up third, while Darling impressively fought through from eighth at the end of the opening lap to fourth in the end. Baglin had been on course for fourth place before an issue on the penultimate lap cost him the spot, though he remained second in the rookies.
Danicska was once again producing a fightback in the midfield having slipped to ninth on lap one. He worked his way through to sixth late on, however he ended up losing that position and the final spot on the rookie podium to Luen on the last lap.
Maphumulo finished eighth on the road, however a track limits time penalty cost him a place to the recovering Radcliffe. Ghandour bounced back from his race one frustration to secure a maiden top ten finish ahead of Brewer, who had been up in seventh early on. Taal, Angelard and Halewood rounded out the result.
Provisional Winter Series Championship Standings (After Round 2 of 4):
1= Sebastien Leusch – 62pts
1= Finlay Lines – 62pts
3. Jacob Ashcroft – 60pts
4. Dominic Darling – 42pts
5. Louis Radcliffe – 37pts
6. Noah Baglin – 36pts
Full session results can be found at TSL Timing. The action continues tomorrow (25 October) with another qualifying session and two more races.
