Joe Warhurst remains with the Norfolk squad for a second consecutive year, Aqil Alibhai has his second year in the GJ series but first season with Elite, Mckenzie Douglass and William Macintyre, who each made their Elite and Ginetta debuts in the 2021 Ginetta Junior Winter Series last November, plus Kanato Le, who graduates from karting for his first year in car racing, combine to offer an exciting mix of GJ experience and raw new talent.
Warhurst was the ninth best-placed Rookie in last year’s standings. He recorded three Rookie podiums, with a best second-place achieved at Silverstone (Sep), finishing inside the top-five overall. Joe, who also qualified inside the outright top-four three times, netted three top-10 placings in the Winter series with a best third-place finish plus fastest lap.
Alibhai, like Warhurst, embarks on his second GJ year. The South African was the seventh best-placed Rookie in last year’s championship, the second highest best-placed Rookie at Thruxton (Aug) when he placed an impressive sixth overall, one of four top-10 overall finishes. The two-time Junior Max African Kart Champion also claimed a praiseworthy third place in the GJ Winter Series driving with Elite having brilliantly placed first and second in the final two races.
Douglass and Macintyre step up for their first full car racing seasons having joined Elite for the GJ Winter series, Mckenzie achieving a pair of top-15 results while William netted four top-14 placings. Douglass competed in karts for 10 years, winning the 2014 South Wales Kart Club (Bambino), 2016 South Wales Kart Club (Cadets), 2020 Winter Cup Championship (PFI) before finishing eighth overall in last year’s British Championship (Mini Max).
Macintyre was awarded a Seeded plate in his first year of Karting in 2017, became the Vice British Champion the following year – missing the title by a single point – after five wins. William earned himself a podium from pole-position on his international debut at Le Mans in the Mini 60 category.
He became the only Briton to ever win the Italian Mini 60 Championship in 2019, finishing the year with eight wins and six pole-positions to become the Vice Champion in the World Series Karting Euroseries. Last year, William competed in the OKJ and X30 Junior categories, scoring three wins, eight poles and four fastest laps.
Le entered his first kart race in late 2017 aged 10. In 2018, he competed in Cadets claiming a number of podiums finishes and a win. He continued to race in Japan during 2019 but also competed in a small number of races in the UK where he moved to the following year.
He scored several IAME Junior X30 category podiums in the 2020 British and European Championships before recording his first European IAME victory, pole position and podium finish at the first two rounds of the ’21 season – becoming the IAME X30 Junior European Champion and IAME Junior X30 Winter Cup Vice Champion after scoring nine podium finishes including five victories.
Elite Motorsport finished runners-up in the 2021 Michelin Ginetta Junior Teams’ Championship despite posting 39 combined overall and Rookie top-three finishes in the 25-race series. The UK’s longest running and most prestigious junior series, is scheduled to begin at Donington Park over 23-24 April.
Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager
“I’m really excited to announce five of our six drivers for this year’s Ginetta Junior programme.
Our Junior squad had a tough 2021 so it’s important that to we bounce back and aim to reclaim the Driver’s and Teams’ titles this season.
We have a very good mix of strong, second year GJ drivers, with Joe and Aqil, combined with a very impressive Rookie line-up.
Will, Kanato & Mackenzie are all exceeding expectations considering their early stages in their careers, so I can’t wait to get the season started.”
