Elite Motorsport’s Seb Hopkins heads for the next rounds of the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship next month leading the Driver's championship with Elite placed second in the Team’s standings after scoring four podiums in the opening two races at Thruxton (9 May). Hopkins placed second and third in the two races while Josh Rowledge earned Elite third-place finishes in the Rookie category.
Hopkins, fastest in wet opening practice, started Race 1 staged in dry, cloudy conditions, from the front row – the quickest of four Elite Motorsport cars in the top-10 on the 27-car grid. Seb, who briefly took the lead on the opening lap, went on to claim third-place – later elevated to second after post-race scrutineering and just 0.727secs behind the winner. Will Jenkins placed seventh and set Race 1’s fastest lap then sixth in Race 2 and lies sixth in the championship.
In the Rookie class, Josh Rowledge recovered from 20th overall after an opening lap spin to 11th in the 20mins Race 1, snatching third in class from Elite team-mate Max Hall on the last lap. Rowledge and Hall placed third and fifth in Race 2 and lie third and fourth respectively. Jack Sherwood, like Rowledge and Hall, having his first career car races, posted top-15 class results. Joe Warhurst qualified on the second and first rows of the overall grid – Elite enjoying a Race 2 front row lock-out – but spun out of Race 1 and finished 14th in the Rookie class.
The next Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship races take place at Snetterton (300) over 12-13 June.
Eddie Ives - Elite Motorsport Team Owner & Manager:
“We made a decent start with our Junior squad. Seb [Hopkins] did an extremely good job over the weekend – he was very impressive. Will [Jenkins] had a tough weekend but came away with the fastest lap in Race 1.
“Josh [Rowledge] had a tough quali but raced very well. Jack [Sherwood] will benefit from more ‘seat’ time and more races to gain experience. Max [Hall], considering his inexperience, did very well over the weekend.
“Joe [Warhurst] was tremendous in qualifying then made a couple of small but costly errors in the races. All in all, a decent start to the campaign.”
