Melvin Kalousdian enjoyed a dream weekend in the Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels with a hat-trick of victories at Snetterton (15-16 August), as Lewis Goff increased his points lead across an action-packed three races.
Qualifying
After six different drivers topped the timesheets in the first six qualifying sessions of the season, Kalousdian (R Racing) broke the streak on Saturday morning as he made it back-to-back pole positions. The Red Bull Junior Team driver impressively led the way by over four tenths of a second.
Riley Cranham (R Racing) was the leading rookie in second ahead of Devon Hagelen in a seasons-best third place. Fellow Elite Motorsport talent Daniel Oliver was fourth, as Sebastien Leusch (R Racing) equalled his best result of the season to date in fifth.
Championship leader Goff (R Racing) was fastest in pre-event testing, but could only qualify sixth overall. Crucially he still finished ahead of his main title rivals though, with Jesse Phillips (R Racing) and Elite Motorsport’s Jacob Ashcroft and Harrison Mackie slotting in to the next three positions.
Race One
The opening race of the weekend proved to be one of the most dramatic of the season so far. It started well for Kalousdian as he converted pole into the early race lead, while there were quick moves behind as Leusch grabbed fourth from Oliver and Phillips passed Goff for sixth.
The big moment of the race came at Riches on lap two. Contact from Mackie to the rear of Goff sent the championship leader sideways, triggering a sequence that caught up Ashcroft and Phillips before a secondary incident took out debutant Maxim Kharuk (Elite Motorsport) and Anesu Maphumulo (RABSport Racing).
After a red flag stoppage to allow for the recovery of the stricken cars, the race restarted with the original grid. Kalousdian once again led the field away from pole, while a slower getaway for Cranham dropped him from second to fourth behind Elite duo Hagelen and Oliver.
Cranham fought back past Oliver into Wilson on lap two, and the Spaniard went on to lose further ground to Leusch and Max Murray (R Racing) later in the lap. Next time round, that group bunched up heading into the last corner and Noah Young (Performance One) took full advantage to gain two places to sixth.
Oliver fought back impressively into Wilson on lap four, diving down the inside of both Young and Murray at the same time to move back to sixth. Two corners later and Ashcroft, who had been able to get back on track after the earlier incident, was trying to make progress into Agostini.
The Croft race-winner misjudged his braking point though and collected Murray, with Addison Smith (MDD Motorsport) then unable to avoid the stricken Ashcroft. The safety car was immediately called and the race would ultimately end prematurely under caution.
Kalousdian therefore secured his maiden win in the championship ahead of first-time rookie class victor Hagelen. Cranham completed the overall top three, while Leusch finished in a seasons’ best fourth overall and made his first trip to the rookie class podium.
Oliver’s rollercoaster race finished in fifth place ahead of Young and Henry Cameron (Elite Motorsport). Harry Bartle (Pace Performance) couldn’t quite take advantage of his title rivals’ misfortune, having to settle for eighth ahead of first-time top ten finisher Dominic Darling (Performance One).
Josh Watts (Performance One) rounded out the top ten ahead of Vicky Farfus (Paradine Competition), who fought forward to secure her seasons’ best finish of 11th. Bailey Doughty (MK Racing) joined her in gaining eight positions through the race as he took the flag in 12th.
Louis Radcliffe (R Racing) finished 13th as he became one of the youngest ever Ginetta Junior drivers, just two days after his 14th birthday. Murray was able to continue after his incident with Ashcroft to finish 14th ahead of Ethan Brass (MK Racing), Andrew Robinson (E3 Sport) and debutant Oliver Vaux (Pace Performance).
Race Two
With the race two grid decided by the drivers’ second fastest times in qualifying, it was Kalousdian and Oliver on the front row of the grid. The latter made a challenge for the lead into Wilson for the first time, however a mistake led to him spinning down the order.
Cranham led the challenge to Kalousdian from there and the top two ran in close formation for the majority of the race. Leusch had slotted into third meanwhile ahead of Murray, while Goff picked off Watts on lap three to grab fifth and make it an all R Racing battle for the podium.
After biding his time, Cranham ramped up the pressure on the final lap. He drew alongside on a couple of occasions, but Kalousdian kept him at bay for victory, while their battling allowed the three behind to catch up and the top five crossed the line separated by less than seven tenths of a second.
Goff had passed Murray for fourth and nearly grabbed third, with Leusch holding him off by 0.030s in a photo-finish to secure his maiden overall podium finish. Murray was fifth, as R Racing made history as the first team ever to lockout the top five positions in a single Ginetta Junior race.
Watts was best of the rest in sixth ahead of Hagelen, while a battling drive from Bartle secured him eighth from outside the top ten on the grid. Phillips finished ninth as Mackie rounded out the top ten from 13th at the start, having passed Young at mid-distance.
Smith was next, as Oliver fought back from 17th after his first lap spin to finish in 13th at the end. After a grid penalty put him 24th on the grid, Ashcroft impressively gained ten positions en-route to 14th ahead of Cameron, Brass, Doughty and Farfus. Newcomers Radcliffe and Vaux completed the points finishers.
Race Three
With the race two result setting the grid for the final race of the weekend, it was a swarm of R Racing machines leading the field into Riches for the first time. Kalousdian maintained his advantage at the front and immediately broke clear of the field, ending lap one over a second clear.
As he stretched his legs in the early stages, Cranham found himself under pressure for second from Goff, who had passed Leusch for third into Agostini on lap one. Their battle came alive at the end of lap three, as a slide for Cranham caused himself and Goff to lose momentum heading onto the straight.
Leusch took full advantage, impressively drafting past both of them at once to grab second position. As Kalousdian picked up his biggest win of the weekend with a three second margin, Leusch kept his team-mates at bay for his best overall result so far of second and a maiden rookie class win.
Goff and Murray were hot on their heels at the finish, while Phillips fought forward three places to finish sixth. In the process R Racing went one better than their race two heroics with a clean sweep of the top six, as Watts followed the grey pack home in seventh.
Hagelen finished up eighth as his Elite team-mate Oliver bounced back from his race two frustration by gaining four positions to ninth. Bartle rounded out the top ten ahead of Ashcroft, another to make up ground during the race, as Smith finished up 12th.
A tricky race for Mackie saw the title contender slip back to 13th at the finish ahead of Doughty and Cameron. Darling put in a brilliant performance to climb from 23rd on the grid to 16th ahead of Young. Farfus completed her first points finish treble of the season in 18th from Robinson and Brass.
Darling, Brass and Doughty took a win apiece across the weekend in the Freshmans Cup – a class for car-racing rookies with no previous national-level karting experience. Cranham picked up the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award meanwhile, after posting the quickest racing lap of the event.
Full race results can be found at TSL Timing. All three races can be watched back now at GT World on YouTube.
