The Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels continues its long association with Donington Park this weekend (11/12 April) when it plays host to the 2026 season opener.
Donington Park has been a permanent fixture on the Ginetta Junior calendar since 2007. In that time, it’s hosted 39 races on the National circuit and most recently 18 on the Grand Prix layout, all coming since the championship joined the British GT support bill in 2023.
Some famous names have celebrated Ginetta Junior victories at the Leicestershire circuit over the years. The roll call of winners includes Louis Foster, Tom Gamble, Dan Harper, Jake Hill, Seb Morris, Dino Zamparelli and Jack Mitchell.
2026 will mark only the fourth time in history that Donington has been the venue for the opening round of a Ginetta Junior campaign. The first occasion came back in 2020, followed by 2022 and 2025 – last year’s exhilarating action producing wins for Alfie Slater and Rocco Coronel.
In the process, Coronel continued a trend of drivers starting their title-winning campaigns with a race win on the opening weekend. It’s happened 13 times in the last 19 seasons, including in each of the last four with Coronel following in the footsteps of Ethan Jeff-Hall, Freddie Slater and Josh Rowledge.
Could we see the eventual 2026 champion emerge victorious this weekend? Only time will tell, but we do know that there are 29 young drivers hungry to kick off the season on the top step of the podium.
You’ll be able to watch all three races across the weekend live via GT World on YouTube, and follow @Ginetta_Motorsport on Instagram for all the latest updates.
