Josh Rattican wins the penultimate race of the 2020 Ginetta Junior championship to make it a three-way battle for the title in tomorrow’s race.
Second place for Tom Lebbon leaves him just one point behind Bailey Voisin going into the final race of the season, with Rattican a further five points back.
Lebbon was the quickest starter off the initial grid, snatching second from Voisin and closing in on pole sitter Josh Miller for the lead. Rattican followed him past Voisin and stuck to Lebbon’s bumper, meaning Miller was shuffled back to third when Lebbon forced him onto the outside line.
Before Rattican could challenge for the race lead, the safety car was brought out as Tommy Pintos and Will Aspin ran into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend.
Pintos’ car was beached enough to bring out the red flags after a handful of safety car laps and the field lined up on the grid again.
Rattican got a good getaway on the restart, taking the lead from Lebbon before the first corner. The field didn’t get much further before the safety car came out again, this time for Trennan Bettany, who ran into the gravel at turn one.
The incident was cleared without the need for red flags and the single file restart meant the field avoided any more drama on the second restart of the race.
Rattican held onto the lead from Lebbon as Sebastian Hopkins and Miller battled for P3. Lebbon couldn’t stick with Rattican for the final few laps and was 1.2s behind his title rival when an off for Liam McNeilly brought out the red flags for a second time with half a minute on the clock.
The race did not resume and Rattican was awarded his fourth win of the season, bringing an end to Lebbon’s string of victories.
Hopkins started 11th, but managed to avoid the drama on the opening lap to climb up to fifth before the first red flag period.
He managed to get the jump on Voisin on the restart and was running fourth when the safety car was brought out ahead of the final restart.
Miller put up a good defence against his fellow Elite Motorsport driver, but couldn’t keep Hopkins behind him. Hopkins came through to take his second podium of the season and extend his advantage over Tom Edgar in the championship standings.
Miller took fourth ahead of Voisin and Edgar.
Aston Millar and Edgar had spent much of the race battling. Millar was ahead at the final restart, but Edgar just managed to edge him out. Millar bounced back just before the red flag was brought out, but was classified seventh as the positions were counted back a lap.
Georgi Dimitrov had a mixed race. After a difficult qualifying, he had managed to climb up the order and was battling Voisin, but couldn’t hold the position and dropped back to eighth.
Freddie Tomlinson and Will Jenkins completed the top 10.
Image courtesy of Ginetta/Jakob Ebrey Photography
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