Jesse Phillips has been crowned as the final champion of the 2025 Ginetta race season after emerging victorious from a hotly-contested Ginetta Junior Winter Series at Silverstone this past weekend (01/02 November).
While Lewis Goff, Jarrett Clark and Riley Cranham scored their maiden victories across three entertaining races on the Silverstone National circuit, a hat-trick of top six finishes secured Phillips the Winter Series title in only his second-ever weekend of Ginetta Junior racing.
Qualifying
The 17th running of the Winter Series saw a packed 20-car entry combining experienced racers and car-racing rookies. On his 15th birthday, Jarrett Clark (R Racing) emerged from the pack with his maiden Ginetta Junior pole positions in qualifying on Saturday morning.
Lewis Goff (R Racing) was the leading rookie class runner in second overall, with the top two finishing over half a second clear of the rest of the field. Torrin Byrne (Pace Performance), Noah Young (Performance One) and Colin Cronin (Elite Motorsport) rounded out the top five.
Race One
The opening race of the weekend began with Clark converting pole position into the race lead through Copse for the first time. Goff made a slower getaway alongside him, dropping him to fourth behind Byrne and Cronin, while Harry Bartle (Pace Performance) made quick progress from eighth to fifth.
Clark’s hold on the lead lasted just over a lap before Byrne dived down the inside into Becketts on lap two. Clark attempted to get straight back ahead at Brooklands but ran wide, with Byrne regaining the lead and Cronin moving up to second as well.
While Cronin was shuffled back to fifth on the next tour, Byrne held the race lead for a couple of laps before Clark and Goff got a run on him down the Wellington Straight. Once they’d cleared him, Goff picked off his team-mate Clark into Luffield to grab the race lead.
Following a brief pause to the action for a safety car period, the action resumed a quiet couple of laps at the front before positions changed again on lap ten. Byrne passed Clark for second at Becketts, while Cronin overtook Bartle for fourth at Brooklands.
A dramatic moment next time round at Becketts saw contact between Clark, Cronin and Bartle lose them all time. Josh Watts (Performance One) was the main beneficiary, moving up to third on the road having broken clear from a close-fought battle for sixth early on, with Bartle recovering to fourth.
The incident behind gave Goff the chance to pull away at the front of the field and he cruised home to a near two-second victory. Byrne followed him home, while an action-packed battle for third came down to a thrilling final drag race to the finish line.
Bartle just edged out Watts by 0.097s for third on the road, however both received five-second penalties for exceeding track limits. Jesse Phillips (R Racing) was therefore promoted to a maiden podium finish ahead of Young and the recovering Clark.
Revie Lake picked up a top six finish ahead of his Elite Motorsport team-mate Jacob Ashcroft, who impressively fought forward six places in his debut race. Bartle and Watts were eventually classified eighth and ninth respectively, with Henry Cameron (Elite Motorsport) completing the top ten.
Jamie Ambrose (R Racing) had finished tenth on the road, however a 15-second track limits penalty dropped him back to 15th in the final result. Sebastien Leusch (R Racing) was classified 11th ahead of his team-mate Emma Scarbrough, while Cronin had to settle for 14th after his incident behind Vladislav Tomenchuk (Pace Performance).
Race Two
Clark repeated his fast getaway from pole position to start race two, leading away from Goff. Cronin was quickly up a spot to fourth off the line, before picking off Byrne through Brooklands for third position.
Once again Clark would lose his race lead on lap two though, this time with Goff moving to the front at Becketts. The top two broke away for a couple of laps as Byrne passed Cronin for third behind, however it wasn’t long until the lead changed hands again as Clark got ahead into Becketts.
That bunched the lead group into a five-car train, while behind there was a good three-way scrap for sixth place between Phillips, Raul Zunzarren (MKH Racing) and Riley Cranham (R Racing) through the first half of the race.
The fight at the front intensified on lap nine as Byrne attempted to go around the outside of Goff at Becketts for second. Both drivers ran slightly wide though, allowing Cronin to charge through to second place. Bartle followed him into third ahead of Goff and Byrne.
That came just before the emergence of the safety car, with Lake suffering an unfortunate incident whilst running in the top ten. The race restarted for what ultimately proved to be a two-lap shootout to the chequered flag.
Cronin would have hoped to have made a last-gasp challenge on Clark for the lead, however he found himself on the defensive instead. The birthday boy therefore had a clear run to victory at the finish, while Cronin successfully fended off Bartle for second ahead of rookie class victor Goff.
Cranham got ahead of Byrne on the penultimate lap to finish fifth on the road, however a five-second track limits penalty proved costly with the field bunched up after the safety car and he dropped down to 12th. Byrne was therefore classified fifth, while Watts was sixth initially.
Post-race however, Watts was disqualified from the result due causing collisions during the race. The final spot in the top six therefore went the way of Phillips ahead of Zunzarren, with Cameron and Ashcroft gaining five positions each to finish eighth and ninth respectively.
The drive of the race came from Ambrose, who sensationally charged from the back of the grid to a top ten finish. Kai Veitch (Elite Motorsport) gained six positions of his own to finish 11th ahead of Cranham, Scarbrough, Leusch and Tomenchuk, with MDD Racing pair Savva Solonchenko and Luke Walton completing the finishers.
Race Three
Their victories on Saturday meant that Goff and Clark headed into the final race of the weekend as the chief contenders for title glory. Clark started from pole position once again and led the early stages of lap one, before Cronin impressively swept around the outside through Brooklands.
Byrne tried to follow him through into Luffield, however contact pitched Clark into a half-spin and dropped him to fifth behind Goff. The title rivals both gained a position at the expense of Bartle next time round, putting them on the tail of fellow championship contender Byrne.
Goff dived down the inside of Byrne into Becketts for second on lap six, before a repeat move on the next lap put him into the lead. Cronin fought back ahead into Luffield though, putting him at the head of the field for a brief safety car stoppage soon after.
When action restarted, Goff was able to make an overtake stick on Cronin at Brooklands. That lasted only a lap though before a return move from Cronin at the same corner led to the pivotal moment of the weekend, as contact from Goff into the rear of Cronin at Luffield led to a multi-car incident.
Goff lost a number of positions into the process, while Clark was also caught up and subsequent damage eventually led to his retirement. Cronin and Bartle were both spun around in the melee, dropping them right down the order too.
After starting the lap in sixth place, Cranham managed to drive around the outside of all the chaos to storm into the race lead. He went on to take a remarkable victory, just two weeks’ on from finishing in the top four of the coveted Ginetta Junior Scholarship contest at Blyton Park.
Byrne crossed the chequered flag in second place, which would have been enough to win the title were it not for a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. That dropped him back to tenth place and promoted Zunzarren and Young to their first-ever Ginetta Junior podium finishes – the latter having impressively fought his way up from 18th on the grid.
Phillips meanwhile finished fourth and the misfortune for the pre-race title favourites ensured he secured his maiden Ginetta title. Ashcroft completed an impressive weekend in fifth, while Leusch picked up eight places through the race for his maiden top six result.
Cameron and Veitch secured their best results of the event too in seventh and eighth respectively, as Cronin fought back from the late incident to finish ninth. As Byrne had to settle for tenth place and runner-up in the final points, Ambrose was 11th ahead of Bartle, Scarbrough and the recovering Goff.
Lake and Watts had both finished around the bottom of the top ten on the road, but track limits penalties put them back to 15th and 17th respectively. Solonchenko split them, while Tomenchuk completed the finishers as Walton was disqualified for failing to comply with yellow flag signals.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/254456
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
