Hedley tops opening Ginetta Junior test

Elite Motorsport’s James Hedley topped the times at the first official test day ahead of the 2019 Ginetta Junior championship.

17 drivers, including 11 rookies, took to the track at Brands Hatch as part of the 2019 Gientta media day.

Almost six months after taking pole at the Grand Prix circuit for the final round of the 2018 season, Hedley topped the order with a 56.786s around the short Indy circuit.

Richardson Racing’s Will Martin took second, 0.250s slower than Hedley, ahead of Tom Emson (Elite) and Ethan Hawkey (Total Control Racing).

TCR’s Theo Edgerton was the quickest rookie on track. His 57.147s in the final session of the day put him fifth overall.

Scholarship winner Ethan Books took sixth, ahead of Casper Stevenson, Joel Pearson, James Taylor, and Luca Griggs.

A number of new faces were on the Kent circuit, while others expected to attend did not.

R Racing announced a few days ago it would be working with In2Racign to run Josh Rattican’s car. But the team also ran Ginetta rookie Aston Millar at the test. Rattican finished 11th overall, with Millar a further three tenths of a second back in P13.

Premiership Academy, who ran Harry Dyson and Ben O’Hare in the championship last season, made its first Ginetta Junior appearance of 2019, running a car for 16-year-old Molly Dodd.

Noticeably absent from the test was Apollo Racing. Apollo was set to be a new team on the grid, set up by former F1 driver Martin Donnelly. The team announced it would be joining the championship back in January, confirming Scholarship winner Ethan Brooks and rookies Alex Walker and Matthew Rees.

Brooks has since moved to Total Control Racing, while Walker and Rees were both absent.

Also absent from the test were Douglas Motorsport, who will run Gus Burton, Lorcan Hanafin, and Bailey Voisin this season, Roman Bilinkski, and Zak Taylor.

 

 

Name	Number	Team	Time
James Hedley	67	Elite Motorsport	56.786s
Will Martin	10	Richardson Racing	57.036s
Tom Emson	27	Elite Motorsport	57.062s
Ethan Hawkey	40	Total Control Racing	57.114s
Theo Edgerton	54	Total Control Racing	57.142s
Ethan Brooks	86	Total Control Racing	57.157s
Casper Stevenson	25	Richardson Racing	57.185s
Joel Pearson	29	Elite Motorsport	57.215s
James Taylor	66	Richardson Racing	57.404s
Luca Griggs	17	Elite Motorsport	57.483s
Josh Rattican	21	R Racing/In2Racing	57.816s
Daniel Gale	68	Total Control Racing	57.897s
Aston Millar	70	R Racing	58.095s
Frankie Taylor	32	SVG Motorsport	58.383s
Haytham Qarajouli	75	Total Control Racing	58.676s
Molly Dodd	47	Premiership Academy	59.127s
Will Rochford	11	Total Control Racing	59.120s

 

Image Credit: Ginetta