Amongst the new names on the Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels grid for 2026, one of the most intriguing debuting combinations heading into the season was GT racing squad Paradine Competition and their young talent Vicky Farfus.
One of the fastest rising teams in global GT competition in recent years, Paradine are bringing their experience to the Ginetta Junior paddock for the first time this year with a two-car entry of Farfus and fellow rookie Samuel Del Gaudio.
For Farfus, it marks a first step into car-racing following a short but impressive karting career. The Brazilian ace has raced for the past two years as part of the F1 Academy ‘Discover Your Drive’ initiative and made history last year as the first female driver ever to finish in the top five of an FIA karting race.
“Moving from karting to cars in the Ginetta Junior Championship has been really fun. It’s a big difference, but I’m really enjoying it,” she told us at Silverstone.
The 14-year-old, who is supported by the Iron Dames project, travels from her home in Monaco to each round. She enjoyed a strong debut at Donington Park, finishing inside the points in each of her first two races, and she scored her best result of the season so far in 16th at Silverstone.
“Donington was very fun for my first weekend. There was a lot of close battles and I really enjoyed it,” she commented. “I definitely progressed a lot from Donington to Silverstone, I’m getting faster with more miles and learning. It’s not about where we start the year, but where we end it.
“It’s a lot of work to deal with school, travel and the racing, but it’s going fine. I really like coming and racing at the British tracks, they’re really fun to drive, and it’s special to race at Silverstone on a Formula 1 circuit.”
Vicky was joined at Silverstone by her father Augusto. A BMW factory driver since 2007, his glittering career has seen him enjoy success in GT and touring car racing all over the globe, including victories in the Daytona 24 Hours and Nürburgring 24 Hours, plus race wins in WTCC, DTM, FIA WEC and IMSA.
“We had a decision whether to do another season in karting, or make the step up to cars,” he commented. “I thought this was the wise decision, getting her into a different machine on different tracks. I’m very thankful that Paradine and Darren [Leung] put this together for us, they are a brand-new team in the environment with two new drivers, so a lot to learn for them.”
Alongside his daughter, Augusto has played a role in bringing Del Gaudio to the Ginetta Junior grid too as part of his Motorsport Performance Academy platform. The Brazilian ace outlined the driver development opportunities presented by the championship and the Ginetta G40 Junior Evo car.
“I think for the transition from karting to cars, Ginetta Juniors is very important for car control and driving experience,” he explained. “I like the concept of the car. They’re always sideways, it makes the kids understand car dynamics, how to handle the car with the pitch and the movement. It has an old school stick upshift gearbox too.
“In Formula racing, the cars are getting more sophisticated and I think some kids are missing the basic understanding of a racing car and these Ginetta Juniors offer a great platform for that. I wish this was a platform I could have had when I started racing and there would be more Ginetta’s around the world, as it gives a lot to the kids and I see how tough the championship is.”
The 2026 Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels season continues later this month with three races at Oulton Park across the Spring bank holiday weekend (23-25 May).
