The Preptech UK team backed up a win at Silverstone with an impressive Donington Park double during the latest rounds of the Ginetta Junior Championship.
The Hampshire-based team had taken to the top step of the podium for the first time in 2024 at the previous meeting thanks to Henry Joslyn, with both Ethan Carney and Alfie Davies showing encouraging pace – albeit without the results to match their respective performances.
The weekend started in positive fashion as Henry secured a place on the front row of the grid in qualifying having gone second quickest, whilst Alfie picked up his best grid slot to date with the eighth best time.
Carney also displayed top ten pace throughout the session, but was unfortunately one of a number of drivers to fall foul of track limits penalties that instead left him to start on the back row of the grid for the opening race later on Saturday.
That race saw Henry battling hard in the lead pack from the outset, despite being hampered on lap two when he was run wide onto the grass by leader Chase Fernandez at Coppice – ripping off the rear bumper of his car.
Even with that damage, Henry pushed hard on the following laps to fight his way back up into second and would fend off Charlie Hart throughout to take the flag in a podium position. Post-race however, he was promoted up into the race win after Fernandez was handed a penalty for his lap two manoeuver.
Alfie was able to retain his position in the early stages of the race and found himself in the midst of a three-way fight with Isaac Phelps and Alfie Slater which would garner plenty of interest on the live stream and ended with him crossing the line in tenth.
Ethan meanwhile was on a move from the back of the field and showed what he can do on track with a strong run to 18th place – an impressive gain of five positions from where he had started.
Race two on Sunday brought with it a fresh challenge with damp conditions greeting the drivers for the start.
After two green flag laps to check out the conditions, Henry led the field away from pole but was unable to build a gap when the safety car was deployed on lap two to recover two cars from the gravel.
Retaining his lead at the front, Henry was dicing with Fernandez for victory and although his rival managed to slide ahead at the Melbourne Hairpin, a red flag stoppage seconds later saw the result rolled back a lap – meaning Henry was declared as the winner.
Having started back in 16th place on the grid – set by second quickest qualifying times – Alfie charged forwards in the racing laps that were available to sit in tenth place by the finish and match his race one result, with Ethan once again making forward progress from his starting position as he crossed the line in 17th place, making up spots over the course of the race.
With the race two result deciding the grid for race three, Henry lined up on pole on what was now a dry circuit, and held the lead through turn one before Fernandez grabbed the lead at the hairpin just as the safety car was deployed due to an incident further back.
On the restart, Fernandez was able to keep Henry at bay, although a second place finish was still enough to move him into the points lead ahead of the next event on the schedule at the Anglesey circuit in Wales.
Unfortunately for Alfie, his hopes of a third top ten finish of the weekend ended on the opening lap when he was one of the two cars that ended up in the gravel after being collected by an out-of-control rival at the Old Hairpin.
Despite limited racing laps due to the caution period, Ethan produced his strongest showing of the weekend as he battled his way through to 13th place, which would have marked his best result in the series to date.
However, a track limits penalty knocked him back down to 16th place, which still equaled his highest placed finish of the campaign.
Henry Joslyn, #26 Ginetta G40, said:
“Another great weekend at Donington, the team have done a fantastic job to help me turn the season around and we never thought that we would be leading the championship this early.
There is still a long way to go this year but I’m confident we can keep the results coming as we head to Anglesey.”
Ethan Carney, #53 Ginetta G40, said:
“A tricky weekend with tough qualifying due to track limits, but I made up some good places in race one and two enabling a better start position in race three.
Lots of action on lap 1 and after the safety car, managed to get through the mid pack setting myself up for a potential top 10 finish, however, some late action dropped me back a few places and with a last lap track limits I had to take a penalty.
I’m happy overall as we are going wheel-to-wheel in the mid pack and starting to look ahead at the top 10, which is giving me greater experience with the pace setters that I can take into Anglesey in June. As always, I appreciate all the help from Team Preptech UK who continue to push with the progression in my rookie year.”
Alfie Davies, #74 Ginetta G40, said:
“The weekend was far more reflective of my baseline pace edging into the top ten but still plenty of room for improvement throughout the next rounds.
During the two days of testing on Thursday and Friday, I settled into a new seating position which really helped me improve my braking technique. I ended up starting the races P8 and then P17 for the second race due to penalties for track limits, despite this I managed to make up seven places ensuring I finished in the top 10 for both race one and two.
The last race I was starting 10th and ready to get into the lead pack, however, unfortunately I ended up being involved in someone else’s accident taking me out of the race. Even though the incident was not my fault I will still try to learn from this so I can avoid them in the future.
Overall the weekend was one that I can take a lot away from as I feel my pace consistently allows me to run in the top ten and we can now push towards the top 5 in the coming rounds. The guys at Preptech UK were on top form as always so I can’t thank them enough!”
Oliver Barnard, Team Principal, said:
“A much stronger weekend for our drivers across the board. We wanted to carry Henry’s momentum on to Donington Park, it was also vital we got Alfie and Ethan back into the groove of where they should be as well.
All drivers did a fantastic job throughout the weekend, Alfie and Ethan needed a little lady luck in race three to cement their efforts. Really pleased that we left the round as highest points scorers once again, an amazing turn around since Oulton Park to now lead the Championship. There are still lots of races to go so it is full focus on Anglesey next to make sure all three cars and drivers maximise results. We are confident we can win anywhere now, especially with some of our better tracks coming up.”
