Ginetta Junior Silverstone Recap

The 23-26 April marked the official start of the 2026 Ginetta Junior Season with the season opener at Silverstone, the home of British Motorsport.

(Image credit to Ria Wiktor)

Practice Sessions

Day 1

The first day of practice sessions at Silverstone for the Ginetta Junior Championship took place Thursday 23rd April and saw the drivers racing on a sunny and dry track. The first of the three sessions of this day started at 11:30 and saw Harry Bartle #73 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:39.073. Behind Bartle was Ashcroft #46 (+0.303s), followed by Goff #4 (+0.315s) and Cranham #18 (+0.496). Jesse Phillips #26 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.697s to Bartle. This session saw three of the R Racing in the top 5. During this session, there was a red flag 4 minutes in, but the session resumed and was green-flagged 8 minutes later.

The second session started at 14:20 and saw Harrison Mackie #24 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:38.814. Behind Mackie was Goff #4 (+0.509s), followed by Cameron #11 (+0.556s) and Oliver #12 (+0.686). Devon Hagelan #8 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.735s to Mackie. This session saw four of the Elite Motorsport cars in the top 5. During this session, there were two red flags.

The third session saw Lewis Goff #4 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:38.840. Behind Goff was Mackie #24 (+0.120s), followed by Oliver #12 (+0.205s) and Watts #22 (+0.462s). Henry Carter #63 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.529s to Goff. This session saw another consistent performance from Elite Motorsport. There was one red flag throughout this session.

Day 2

The first practice session on the second day saw Goff #4 taking the lead with a 2:38.421. The rest of the top five was as follows - Mackie #24 (+0.234s), Ashcroft #46 (+0.398s), Bartle #73 (+0.536s)  and Phillips #26 (+0.631). This session saw two Elite Motorsport and R Racing cars in the top five.

The second practice session saw Goff #4 taking the lead with a 2:38.683. The rest of the top five was as follows - Ashcroft #46 (+0.042s), Hagelen #8 (+0.141s), Oliver #12 (+0.514s)  and Mackie #24 (+0.634). This session saw four Elite Motorsport cars in the top five.

Qualifying

This qualifying session saw Harry Bartle #73 for Pace Performance take pole with a lap time of 2:37.941. Riley Cranham #18 (+0.308s) and Daniel Oliver #12 (+0.559s) for R Racing and Elite Motorsport completed the top 3 for the qualifying session. 

Race 1

The first race finished with a podium of Lewis Goff #4 for R Racing, Harry Bartle #73 for Pace Performance and Jacob Ashcroft #46 for Elite Motorsport.

Race 2

This race saw the Elite Motorsport cars of Daniel Oliver and Harrison Mackie make contact and go into the gravel at Chapel, which made Mackie the first retirement of the race. The end of this race saw a top three of #73 Harry Bartle for Pace Performance, #4 Lewis Goff for R Racing and #46 Jacob Ashcroft for Elite Motorsport. The other retirement during this race was #24 - Henry Carter.

Race 3

Bartle and Goff had a good start, going off the start line and managing to keep their positions. Six minutes into the race, we saw Phillips gain 4 positions. During this race, Young and Oliver made up 10 and 11 places, respectively. With 11 minutes to go, the #15 car of Smith went into the gravel, making him the first retirement of this race. The safety car was deployed following this. The car of Daniel Oliver #12 also spun and went into the gravel. With 5 minutes left the safety car went back in. Lewis Goff got a better start than Harry Bartle thanks to his teammate, and Bartle fell down to fourth. Kalousdian managed to gain four places over the course of a lap. This race saw a top three of #4 Lewis Goff, #73 Harry Bartle for Pace Performance and #26 Jesse Phillips for R Racing.

Article written by Ria Wiktor ©️ Ria Wiktor 2026