2021 Ginetta Junior runner up Liam McNeilly has confirmed he will be continuing in the championship next season.
McNeilly, who won the final round of the season, said at Brands Hatch he planned to continue racing Ginetta Juniors in 2022. Fox Motorsport, run by father Paul McNeilly, has now confirmed his plans for next year.
“I’ve had an amazing season in Ginetta Juniors that has gone way beyond even my wildest expectations,” he said.
“I was 10th and 11th at the first round, at which point my target was one podium, so to end the year second in the championship with five wins and 13 podiums feels pretty incredible.
“Because of where my 16th birthday falls in the year, I won’t be able to step up to a senior racing series until midway through 2022, so it makes perfect sense to stay in Juniors for another season and continue to develop my skills against the best young drivers in the UK.
“There are two main targets; firstly to win the championship after how close we came this year, and second; to try and use the experience I’ve gained in 2020-21 to help my team-mates challenge for race wins as well.”
McNeilly also confirmed he will be racing in the Ginetta Junior Winter Series later this month at Brands Hatch. He will be joined there by scholar and 2021 team-mate Maurice Henry and “up to two other drivers”.
Team principal Paul McNeilly praised Liam’s performance this season. As a team, Fox Motorsport competed at the front of the field for the first time in the Junior category, despite years of success in more senior championships.
The aim is to continue that success into 2022, when the team hopes to field a four-car line-up.
“Prior to this year, we’d never been close to a podium finish in Ginetta Juniors,” he said. “That all changed when Liam crossed the line at Snetterton to take our first win, and he’s just kept on impressing everybody since then and did a fantastic job to keep the title fight alive into the final round.
“He deserves to move up to a senior series – we all know that – but the reality is he doesn’t turn 16 early enough in the year to do all the races. That’s going to be a huge benefit to us as a team because we know we’ll head into the new Ginetta Junior season with a sure-fire title contender and with somebody with enough experience in juniors to be a huge help to his team-mates. It’s a great asset to have as we aim to increase our line-up to four cars in 2022.”
Image courtesy of Fox Motorsport/Jakob Ebrey Photography
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