The sixth season of the Ginetta GT Academy begins this weekend (25-26 April) at Silverstone, with a great entry of 15 drivers coming together to tackle the opening two races of the campaign.
The 2026 season will include the milestone 100th race for the GT Academy and sees it share a race grid with the GT Championship for the first time. Competitors will race in identical Ginetta G56 GTA cars across two classes, GTA and rookie.
E3 Sport have won the GTA class title in each of the last two seasons, with James Nicholas following in the wheeltracks of Julian Wantling. Jim Edwards’ squad is back for 2026 with a multi-car entry. Wantling himself signed up to contest selected rounds this year including the opener at Silverstone.
Robin Grimwood joins him in embarking on the latest chapter of their Ginetta career. Both Grimwood and Wantling have risen up the ranks from GRDC to G40 Cup and then GT Academy. Completing E3 Sport’s entry meanwhile is Tom Walker, who makes his Ginetta bow after impressing in Mazda MX-5 racing last year.
Want2Race are running four cars in the GTA class this weekend. Allan Wright steps up after scoring ten rookie podiums last year. Ben Cooke joins him in returning to the grid from 2025. Maxwell Waithman and Joe Ostholthoff make their Ginetta debuts, the latter bringing single-seater experience from America.
The GTA class is completed by privateer entrant Will Fallon and Connor Blackburn, who is part of a two-car entry from Performance One Motorsport. Blackburn switches to GT competition after four years in Ford Fiesta racing. His team-mate will be rookie contender Ash Young, who scored a class podium on his debut in the 2025 season finale.
Faye Goff, brother of Ginetta Junior points leader Lewis, also made her GT Academy debut that weekend. She’s back for a first full-season of car-racing with Want2Race. The team also welcome Luis Beilicke to the grid as the latest winner of PT Autosport’s Aspiring Driver Shootout in America.
Ben Wiseman completes Want2Race’s rookie class entry, while SVG Motorsport are also running two Ginetta debutants. Ian Beaumont joins the paddock with a rich pedigree in overall racing. Lucas Theo will graduate from Senior Rotax karting to make his car-racing debut.
Head to @Ginetta_Motorsport on Instagram for all the latest updates across the weekend.
Provisional Timetable:
Saturday 25 April: Qualifying 14:05-14:20; Race One 17:25-17:50
Sunday 26 April: Race Two 10:07-10:32
Both Ginetta GT Academy races at Silverstone will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel. Live timing and results will be available via TSL Timing.
