Ginetta’s alumni have enjoyed a sensational 2023 season with the British based racing team yet again proving its ability to nurture young motorsport talent and bring them to the success across various motorsport disciplines.
The British GT series’ headline GT3 drivers’ title was secured by Ginetta graduates 2016 Junior scholarship winner Dan Harper and former Ginetta GT Academy and GT4 SuperCup driver Darren Leung. The Silver-Am class title was won by 2016 Ginetta Junior champion Will Tregurtha and ex-G40 Cup racer Mark Sansom, while Michael Johnston, a 2022 Ginetta GT Academy racer, took the GT4 Pro-Am title.
Darren Leung said of the season: “What I couldn’t comprehend was how much racing in Ginetta’s GT Academy would teach me about car racing. As a total novice, it gave me a friendly, safe environment to really learn and understand something completely different – the fundamentals of car racing. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life, and to anyone thinking of giving it a go, do! The GTA gave me enough confidence to make the jump to GT4 Supercup with Assetto Motorsport.”
In endurance racing, three Ginetta graduates were on the grid for the historic centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – Olli Caldwell, Casper Stevenson, and Tom Gamble. Meanwhile, one-time GT5 Challenge and GT4 SuperCup racer David Pittard took a stunning overall victory in the ultra-competitive Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Once again, a formidable contingent of former Ginetta drivers featured at the sharp end of the British touring car season. Leading the way was triple Ginetta champion Tom Ingram, whose defence of his 2022 BTCC crown saw him take the title fight to the season finale before finishing runner-up, one place ahead of fellow former Ginetta racer Jake Hill, while ex-Junior and GT4 SuperCup race-winner Andrew Watson secured the Jack Sears Trophy.
Kelly Edmund, Ginetta Events Manager, had this to say about the success of the program: “Every year, we are immensely proud to see our former drivers enjoying phenomenal success in their careers, and this year has been particularly impressive with notable achievements across such a wide range of championships.
“To see our graduates winning titles and picking up silverware in GT racing, touring cars, single-seaters, and prototypes both domestically and globally is brilliant, and it’s a testament to our motorsport ladder and our continued philosophy of promoting young talent.”
Ginetta graduates have long enjoyed exceptional success in one-make Porsche competition, and 2023 was no different. Former Junior and GT4 SuperCup champion Adam Smalley won the Carrera Cup GB crown, as one-time Junior racer Max Bird took Pro-Am class honours. In the Sprint Challenge GB, Joe Warhurst secured Cayman championship glory in his first year out of Juniors, with triple Ginetta champion Marc Warren winning the Am class crown.
At the pinnacle of global motorsport, 2014 Junior rookie champion Lando Norris enjoyed his most successful season with McLaren in Formula 1, scoring seven podium finishes. Following fast in Norris’s wheel tracks and hotly tipped to be potential British F1 stars of the future are Zak O’Sullivan and Luke Browning. The 2019 Junior rookie champion O’Sullivan sensationally won four races and finished runner-up in FIA Formula 3 and made his F1 driving debut in FP1 at Abu Dhabi with Williams, while Luke Browning scored a podium finish in the same championship and won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.
In Formula 4, 2022, Junior rookie champion Will Macintyre enjoyed a phenomenal debut season in the British Championship as he secured the runners-up spoils. Fellow Junior alumni James Higgins, Kanato Le, Aqil Alibhai and Sonny Smith also won races in the series. Fresh from being crowned the 2023 Ginetta Junior champion, Freddie Slater won the single-seater Euro 4 Championship at Monza. Leo Robinson, the youngest race winner in Junior history in 2023 at 14, switched to Danish F4 and scored ten podium finishes.
Stateside, Devlin DeFrancesco continued as the only Junior graduate to have reached IndyCar, scoring a best result of 12th in his second season. In the Indy NXT feeder series, 2019 Junior rookie champion Louis Foster was a multiple race-winner. Jamie Chadwick, who started her career as a Ginetta Junior scholar, was among his competition. In the F1 Academy, a new championship introduced this year for female single-seater talents, one-time GT5 Challenge racer Abbi Pulling made seven visits to the podium.
