Jamie Caudle scored the opening Ginetta GT Academy win at Oulton Park before James Nicholas swept to a double victory across the third round of the 2025 season at Oulton Park (24-26 May).
Qualifying
Returning to the scene of his memorable race win on his car-racing debut last year, James Nicholas (E3 Sport) went quickest of all in testing on Friday and a brilliant lap in the dying seconds of qualifying secured him a double pole position for the second weekend in a row.
Nicholas finished up almost four tenths of a second quicker than Jamie Caudle, who made it an E3 Sport lockout of the front row. Sam Shrimpton (W2R) was the fastest of the rookie class contenders in third overall ahead of Charlie Digby (MDD Racing) and Joe Edge (W2R).
Race One
While Nicholas earned pole position in qualifying, a five-place grid penalty carried over from the previous round meant he lined up sixth for the opening race. Caudle was promoted to pole and he led away from the rolling start, but Shrimpton mounted an immediate challenge for the lead.
Shrimpton, the latest winner of the coveted PalmerSport Ginetta Race Scholarship, moved to the front on the run from Cascades to Island bend. His advantage only lasted a couple of corners though, as a slide wide exiting Brittens corner resulted in contact with the barriers and an early end to his race.
Caudle moved back into the lead as a consequence and impressively pulled a two-second advantage over closest challenger Digby before the safety car emerged late on. The race ultimately ended under yellows, with Caudle securing his third win of the season so far.
The opening lap drama for Shrimpton meant that a first lap move from Shiv Sapra (Paradine by Xentek) on Edge proved crucial in securing the former the rookie class win in a seasons’ best third overall. Edge finished up fifth on the road, having lost out to GTA podium-finisher Nicholas prior to the safety car.
Louis Darling (MDD Racing) rounded out the overall top six ahead of Alex Deighton (Paradine by Xentek), while completing the rookie podium was Allan Wright (W2R) after he converted his seasons’ best qualifying finish of eighth overall into the same result in the race.
Paul Livesey (MDD Racing) and Peter Thompson (W2R) completed the top ten overall at the finish ahead of fellow GTA class runner Lucie Hodgson (W2R). Phil McGarty (Xentek Motorsport) had been on course for a top ten class finish before a trip to the Shell Oils gravel led to the safety car interlude.
Race Two
The first of two races on bank holiday Monday began with Nicholas converting pole position into a lights-to-flag victory. He didn’t have it all his own way at the front of the field, with Caudle closing down an early 1.3 second deficit to get onto the tail of the leader for a few laps.
Behind, Digby swept around the outside of Edge into Old Hall for the first time to secure third place overall. Both Caudle and Digby received five-second penalties for exceeding track limits through the race, but their advantage to the cars behind ensured they didn’t lose any positions.
A stunning launch for Deighton propelled him from seventh on the grid to fifth off the line, before passing Edge for fourth at Cascades. He ran there to the chequered flag, while Edge edged clear of Shrimpton through the race to secure the rookie class win in fifth overall.
An entertaining battle in the closing stages saw three drivers fighting it out for seventh. Darling took the place on the road from Thompson, who overtook Wright at Old Hall on the final lap, however a 15 seconds worth of track limits penalties demoted Darling behind them both in the final classification.
Hodgson, Damien Duffy (W2R) and Chris Babington (SVG Motorsport) completed the race finishers, the latter having unfortunately missed Saturday’s race due to damaged sustained in qualifying, while Sapra, Livesey and McGarty all retired from proceedings.
Race Three
Nicholas completed a perfect pair of victories for the day by once again leading from start-to-finish in the final race of the event. In tricky changeable conditions, he benefitted from a close duel for second behind to lead throughout for his third win of the season so far.
A fast-starting Digby dived down the inside of Caudle into Old Hall for the first time to grab second place. The former Ginetta GT5 Challenge talent ran wide at Lodge on lap three through, opening the door for Caudle to take the position which he went on to hold to the chequered flag.
Deighton ran fourth for the majority of the race, soaking up pressure from Shrimpton. It all changed though when an attempted move into Lodge resulted in contact between the two, with a number of cars behind making contact as they tried to avoid a spinning Deighton. Edge was the unluckiest of those, having to retire with the damage sustained.
Shrimpton was able to continue and secured the rookie win in fourth overall. Darling and Wright were others involved in the early incident, but they were able to nurse home their cars in fifth and seventh overall respectively, with Thompson splitting them at the finish.
After unfortunately having to miss race two due to a technical issue, Sapra produced a superb fightback drive from the back of the grid to the top six. His challenge ended prematurely on the penultimate lap though, as he ended up in the Lodge gravel trap.
McGarty pulled off a last lap move on Hodgson to finish eighth, while completing the top ten overall and the rookie class podium was Duffy. Deighton was able to recover from his incident to take the chequered flag in 11th ahead of Babington, while Livesey had impressively twice battled his way from the rear of the field into the top ten through the race before an eventual retirement.
In the Chairmans Cup, a class for drivers over the age of 45, Deighton took the first two wins of the event before Thompson emerged victorious in the closer. Thompson and Wright joined Deighton in scoring two podiums over the event, with Livesey and McGarty picking up one apiece.
Full race results can be found at www.tsl-timing.com/event/252105
All three races can be watched back at www.youtube.com/user/ginettatv
The 2025 Ginetta GT Academy season takes a short break now before returning to action at Snetterton over the weekend of 12/13 July.
