The Preptech UK team maintained its strong run of form in the 2024 Ginetta Junior Championship with a double podium finish from the only quadruple-header weekend of the season at Anglesey.
The Welsh circuit would host the annual G-Fest event for the first time, providing a dramatic backdrop to the action for the fourth meeting of the campaign as the Hampshire-based team looked to maintain the championship lead it had secured with Henry Joslyn in the previous rounds at Donington Park.
Joslyn topped both dates of pre-event testing going into the weekend, with team-mates Alfie Davies and Ethan Carney both on the fringes of the top ten – leaving confidence high going into Saturday’s qualifying session.
Wet conditions provided a fresh challenge, but Joslyn was able to secure the third quickest time to earn a second row start, with Carney and Davies taking 14th and 15th on the grid for race one.
The rain continued to fall as the race got underway, with Joslyn retaining third spot through lap one before diving past title rival Charlie Hart on lap two. A trip off-track on lap six dropped him back down to fifth but he battled back well to fight his way through to third by the finish, only to be demoted a place following a post-race penalty for gaining an unfair advantage whilst dicing with Hart.
Behind, Carney continued to maintain the progress he had displayed at Donington Park as he fought hard in the midfield pack, rising to the fringes of the top ten early on before eventually taking the flag for a new personal best result of 14th, with Davies two places further back in 16th.
The second race of the weekend would see the grid formed by second quickest times in qualifying, meaning Joslyn again lined up on the second row of the grid. Although he briefly got up to second place on the opening lap, he would ultimately be unable to keep pace with the lead battle and had to settle for third, with Carney going one better than earlier in the day as he took the flag in 13th following further hectic battles in the midfield – albeit having started from P12 on the grid.
Davies had lost a place on the opening lap but showed solid race craft to climb back up to 16th by the finish after a last lap dice with Torrin Bryne. However, a five second track limits penalty would ultimately drop him back to 17th in the final results, the same position from which he had taken the start.
A fresh qualifying session on Sunday morning would determine the grid for races three and four, with circuit conditions having improved vastly overnight to leave the trio with a dry track.
Joslyn would end up fifth quickest with a lop just a tenth of a second off the front row of the grid, with Carney and Davies in 15th and 16th; the pair little more than three-tenths of a second shy of breaking into the top ten.
Although Joslyn made a strong start to the race to jump up into the podium places, he was then tipped into a spin that dropped him down outside the top 20. Showing his pace, Joslyn battled his way back through the pack in impressive style, salvaging ninth place by the finish.
Carney also lost ground on lap one after getting caught up in the skirmishes in the midfield, but he too recovered well to take 17th spot, one place ahead of Davies who would be hampered by a time penalty for exceeding track limits.
The final race kicked off with Joslyn again starting from fifth, with Davies in 15th and Carney directly behind in 17th.
Quickly working his way up into the podium places, Joslyn rounded out the weekend with another top three finish in third, whilst Davies found himself in the midst of a midfield train before being classified in 13th for his best result of the weekend. Carney would also be part of the same train of cars – albeit slightly further back – and capped his weekend with 18th place.
Ahead of the next event at Snetterton, Joslyn now sits second in the standings, with Davies in 14th and Carney in 19th.
Henry Joslyn said:
“It was a tricky weekend when we went into Saturday and suddenly had to deal with wet conditions as we hadn’t faced those before, but we picked up some solid results and confidence was high going into Sunday considering the pace we had shown in testing.
“Our rivals found more speed which meant the races were tougher, but even though we didn’t get the win we were targeting coming into the weekend, we have picked up a couple of podiums and scored some solid points. The goal now is to get back onto the top step when we go to Snetterton!”
Ethan Carney said:
“I was consistently in and around the top ten in practice so carried a lot of confidence into the actual race weekend. Saturday was a challenge with the weather conditions, but to come away with my best qualifying performance and my best race result was fantastic and it could have been even better in the first race had I not made a mistake on the final lap.
“The results on Sunday were a bit more mixed but the racing was just as exciting. Unfortunately an incident at the start of race three cost me places and then in race four, it was a case of doing what I could in such an evenly-matched field.
“Overall, I feel I made a big step forwards this weekend and to be knocking on the door of the top ten at this stage is fantastic. Thanks as ever to everyone in the Preptech UK team for their efforts and roll on Snetterton in a few weeks’ time!”
Alfie Davies said:
“Given the pace we showed earlier in the season, I was hoping for more from the weekend – particularly with the circuit being new for everyone. We scored four podiums amongst the Freshman drivers which is a positive, but I know I can do more so there is an element of frustration at the overall results.
“I’ll be working hard with the team to find the pace we had in the early rounds and make sure that when we get to Snetterton and beyond, the results more accurately reflect what I know I can do.”
Oliver Barnard, Team Principal said:
“An amazing start to the weekend in testing gave us some early confidence going into the weekend. We are working hard back at base to analyse data and see why we had bit of a pace drop off over the race weekend but still came away with solid points and positives across the team.
A positive test at Snetterton a few weeks ago should hopefully set us up as we head into the next round.”
