2025 has proved to be another hugely successful year for Ginetta graduates, with drivers who cut their teeth in Ginetta’s domestic championships producing exceptional performances in leading single-seater, GT, sportscar and touring car competition across the globe this season.
Ginetta’s long-standing passion for nurturing driving talent from the start of their career to the highest tier of competition is proving to be a roaring success, with alumni excelling across all levels of the sport from world championships to domestic series.
The highest-profile Ginetta graduate in 2025 has been Lando Norris, who is the championship leader in the FIA Formula One World Championship with three races remaining. A sensational campaign has seen the 2014 Junior rookie victor secure seven Grand Prix victories so far for constructors’ champions McLaren.
Isack Hadjar, who contested his first-ever car races in the 2018 Junior Winter Series, has been a revelation in his debut Formula 1 season. Securing his maiden podium finish at Zandvoort, the rising star is in contention for a top ten championship finish.
On the F1 feeder ladder, 2018 Junior race-winner Luke Browning heads into the final two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 Championship in title contention after scoring nine podium finishes so far. GT5 Challenge alumni John Bennett has also been a top ten finisher in the series.
In the FIA Formula 3 Championship, Roman Bilinski scored a race win at Monza and two further podium finishes in his debut campaign. Fellow Junior graduates Callum Voisin and Freddie Slater also picked up silverware this year, while James Hedley scored a best result of fourth overall.
Following in the footsteps of 2024 champion Abbi Pulling, two Ginetta graduates currently sit in the top five of the F1 Academy standings with one round remaining. 2022 Junior scholar Alisha Palmowski and Ella Lloyd have been race-winners in Shanghai and Jeddah respectively.
Across the pond, 2018 Junior rookie champion Louis Foster enjoyed a fantastic first season in the IndyCar Series. The British ace produced a number of impressive performances on his way to the Rookie of the Year crown, running with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing alongside fellow ex-Junior Devlin DeFrancesco.
On the US single-seater ladder, 2021 Junior vice-champion Liam McNeilly made his mark this year with a stunning run of five consecutive race victories in USF2000. He stepped up to enjoy a positive one-off debut in USF Pro 2000, while Junior graduates Harry Moss and Chase Fernandez appeared in USF Juniors.
Domestically, a number of Ginetta Junior graduates excelled in the GB3 Championship this season. Freddie Slater picked up three race wins, with Reza Seeworuthun, Will Macintyre, Hugo Schwarze and Kanato Le also scoring a victory each. Abbi Pulling, Jack Sherwood and Liam McNeilly picked up podium finishes too.
In the GB4 Championship, 2024 Junior Winter Series champion Isaac Phelps finished as vice-champion with three race victories to his name. Thomas Ingram Hill scored podium finishes in the series, with Holly Miall and Josh McLean also in action.
A rich history of success for Ginetta Junior graduates in the F4 British Championship continued with 2024 Junior champion Ethan Jeff-Hall, Leo Robinson and Chase Fernandez all scoring race wins, while podium finishes went the way of Henry Joslyn and Ella Lloyd.
In global Formula 4 competition, Chase Fernandez was a podium finisher in the CEZ series while Marcus Saeter enjoyed strong results in Italy. Rocco Coronel and Scott Lindblom have followed up their Junior campaigns with podium finishes in Spain and Saudi Arabia respectively in recent weeks.
Leo Robinson started the year as vice-champion in the Formula Winter Series, with Edu Robinson also scoring silverware. Aqil Alibhai and Akshay Bohra have secured podiums in the Indian Racing League, whilst brothers Ntiyiso and Mahlori Mabunda have impressed in F4 India.
Freddie Slater’s rise up the single-seater ranks has continued with title success in the Formula Regional European Championship. Alongside scoring eight wins in that series, he also took four victories on his way to vice-champion honours in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship, and battled for top honours in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.
Fellow Junior graduate Akshay Bohra won races in both championships too, while Kanato Le had success in the Middle East. Edward Pearson was a multiple race-winner in the Euroformula Open Championship, while Zak O’Sullivan has scored good results in Super Formula in Japan.
The natural progression for many Ginetta graduates continues to be into GT, sportscar and prototype racing across the globe. Domestically, no less than 18 alumni competed in the British GT Championship this year and enjoyed some great success between them.
Remarkably, all seven British GT drivers’ titles were secured by drivers who started their careers in Ginetta racing. 2017 Junior rookie champion Kiern Jewiss won the GT3 overall and Pro-Am titles, while three-time Ginetta champion Marc Warren scored top honours in GT4 overall and Pro-Am.
2011 Junior champion Seb Morris won the GT4 Endurance Cup crown, the third British GT title of his career so far, while fellow Junior alumni Tom Wood and Luca Hopkinson were victorious in GT3 Silver-Am and GT4 Silver Cup respectively.
Other Ginetta alumni to stand on the British GT podium in 2025 were Dan Harper, Darren Leung, Ravi Ramyead, Charlie Robertson, Luke Garlick, Chris Salkeld, Jack Mitchell, Ian Duggan, Joe Wheeler, Blake Angliss, Josh Miller, Jamie Orton and Will Burns.
At the top of the sportscar ladder in the FIA World Endurance Championship, 2017 Junior champion Tom Gamble competed in the headline Hypercar class for the first time. In LMGT3, GT Academy graduate Darren Leung took a class win at COTA, while Lorcan Hanafin also impressed in the class.
Stateside, four Junior graduates were class race-winners in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Sebastian Priaulx and Dan Harper each secured two wins in GTD PRO, the latter emerging as the Endurance Cup champion, while Casper Stevenson and Tom Gamble were victorious in GTD. Priaulx, Stevenson and Gamble all stood on the podium at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Numerous alumni picked up silverware in the GT World Challenge Europe. 2018 Junior champion Adam Smalley secured a maiden overall win in the championship in Barcelona, while 2019 GT4 SuperCup victor Harry King was a multiple winner in the Gold class including in the 24 Hours of Spa.
James Kell was also a race-winner in Gold, while fellow GT4 SuperCup alumni James Kellett and Will Moore took to the top step of the Silver podium. 2020 Junior champion Tom Lebbon was a winner in Bronze, while Kiern Jewiss, Lorcan Hanafin, Darren Leung and Dan Harper were also class podium-finishers.
Ex-Junior and GT4 SuperCup talent Ben Green was a multiple race-winner in GT World Challenge Asia and a podium finisher in DTM, whilst 2014 Junior scholar Alex Sedgwick secured victories in GT World Challenge America. Freddie and Lawrence Tomlinson teamed up for podium finishes in the Ginetta G56 GT2’s debut in the GT2 European Series.
Zak O’Sullivan, Harry King and Charlie Fagg all scored GT300 class victories in the Super GT Series in Japan, as former GT5 Challenge title contender Harley Haughton was crowned Cup 3 class champion in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie.
A number of alumni impressed in the International GT Open, with 2020 Junior champion Tom Lebbon, Tom Emson and James Kell all scoring overall race victories, while Zac Meakin, Mikey Porter and Josh Rattican also picked up silverware.
Josh Rattican was also a race-winner in the GT4 European Series with Elite Motorsport as he defended his drivers’ title won in 2024. In his first season since graduating from Juniors, Charlie Hart was a podium finisher alongside GT Championship alumni Callum Davies.
A busy year for Archie Clark saw him not only win the Ginetta GT Championship title, but also the GT4 class honours in the GT Cup alongside fellow Junior alumni Tom Canning. Also in the UK, Adam Smalley was crowned overall champion in the Britcar Endurance Championship as the Ginetta class honours went to ex-GT Academy duo Marco Anastasi and Maurizio Sciglio.
In prototype competition, three Junior alumni started the year with silverware in the Asian Le Mans Series. Olli Caldwell was a race-winner in the headline LMP2 class, with Harry King picking up a podium in that category too, while Ian Aguilera scored a couple of LMP3 victories.
2013 Junior scholarship winner Jamie Chadwick marked her first year in prototypes with multiple LMP2 victories in the European Le Mans Series. Olli Caldwell finished runner-up in LMP2 Pro-Am with two class wins, while Ian Aguilera and Lorcan Hanafin were podium finishers in LMP3 and LMGT3 respectively.
Former Junior vice-champion Hugo Schwarze was crowned LMP3 drivers’ champion in the Le Mans Cup after taking three outright victories. Maxwell Dodds finished vice-champion in the Ligier European Series, with Jude Peters, Ruben Hage, Leo Robinson and Josh Steed also finishing on the podium in that series.
Ginetta graduates have enjoyed great success in one-make Porsche racing for many years and 2025 has been no exception. Robert de Haan led the way, taking a memorable victory on the streets on Monaco on his way to finishing runner-up in the F1-supporting Porsche Supercup.
The 2021 Ginetta Junior scholar and rookie champion was also crowned the Carrera Cup Germany champion and was a race-winner in the Middle East series too. Joe Warhurst secured class silverware in the German series, while Josh Rowledge celebrated podium finishes in Carrera Cup Asia.
On home tarmac, Will Martin missed out on Carrera Cup GB title success by just two points after taking six race wins. Sid Smith, George Gamble, Seb Hopkins and Max Coates were also race-winners, while Angus Whiteside finished on the overall podium in both the GB and Middle East series.
In the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB, one-time GT4 SuperCup racer Joe Marshall was crowned overall vice-champion after winning four races. Sam Harvey and Toby Trice were also victorious in the championship this year, as Oliver Cottam and Reece Somerfield secured podiums.
In other one-make GT competition, ex-Junior racer Georgi Dimitrov won the Pro-Am title in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. Tommy Pintos was a race-winner in the McLaren Trophy America, while seven former drivers finished on the podium in McLaren Trophy Europe; Will Aspin, Leo Karavasili, Zac Meakin, Nick Halstead, Thomas Holland, Ashley Marshall and Maurice Henry.
In touring cars, three-time Ginetta champion Tom Ingram took seven race wins on his way to a second title victory in the British Touring Car Championship. Fellow Junior graduate Dan Lloyd secured a maiden BTCC title with success in the Independents Drivers’ Championship.
Ingram’s former Junior sparring partner Jake Hill and 2022 GT5 Challenge champion Mikey Doble joined those two in securing race victories this year, whilst Senna Proctor, Adam Morgan and Chris Smiley also featured on the overall podium.
Ex-Junior racer Jamie Osborne enjoyed a superb season in the MINI Challenge JCW, mounting a title challenge with five wins and six further podium finishes. Former GT4 SuperCup podium-finisher Adam Shepherd meanwhile was crowned champion in the TCR UK Championship.
Mike Simpson – Ginetta Head of Motorsport:
“We couldn’t be prouder of all the success achieved by our Ginetta graduates in 2025. To see former drivers battling at the front in such a varied array of championships and disciplines all over the world is incredible.
“The global reach of our alumni continues to grow every season and we love seeing how many championships they are represented in. It is all a testament to the long-standing success of our motorsport ladder and our philosophy of developing driving talent.”
Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography, McLaren, BTCC, IndyCar / Joe Skibinski, ACI Sport, Porshe Carrera Cup Deutschland, Jamie Chadwick, United Autosports and Nico Deumille Photography.
