Will Macintyre claimed the Rookie title along with runners-up in the main Driver’s Championship which featured four Elite drivers in the top-seven following the final races at Brands Hatch (8-9 Oct).
Will Macintyre claimed his 16th, 17th and 18th Rookie victories at Brands from 25 races to underline his dominance in the class this year which earned him the Rookie title weeks ago. Will finished a solid second in the overall standings – just 41-points behind the champion – after 15 outright podiums (six wins) recording fourth, second and first in Kent. With
35pts awarded for a race win, the gap confirms how close Macintyre was to winning the overall title in his maiden GJ year. Will makes his GB4 début with Elite next weekend (15-16 Oct).
Contesting his second full GJ season with Elite, Joe Warhurst finished fifth in the championship having scored five podiums – seven fastest laps – placing ninth, fourth – in a frenzied eight-car battle for third-place – and fifth last weekend.
Aqil Alibhai finished sixth in the series – the South African’s second year in GJ but first with Elite. Having claimed second and front row starts in qualifying, Aqil went on to record third and the highest-placed Elite driver in Race 1 – his fifth podium of the season, dicing with Macintyre over second after the re-start – fifth and fourth places.
Rookie class runner-up Kanato Le finished seventh in the overall standings having also recorded five outright podiums including two impressive wins. The Japanese brought the curtain down on his first season out of karts by placing seventh and third – Le having unluckily been tagged into a half spin at Druids on the opening lap of Race 1 before being hit by another car causing a Red flag.
McKenzie Douglass registered his best overall result of the season with sixth place in the final race and eighth Rookie podium of the season, finishing the fifth highest Rookie in the championship.
Indian Shavran Shanmugavel accumulated 15 top-10 Rookie finishes. He equalled his best qualifying position of the season for Race 2 but was unfortunate to retire from the opening race when he was unsighted and ran into a stationary car that had spun, finishing 12th and 11th in the remaining races.
Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager:
“It has been a fantastic season for our Ginetta Junior team. Obviously we would have liked to have won the overall Driver’s title but we got so close with a Rookie [driver] which is a fantastic effort."
“I have enjoyed working with all six drivers this year and it was fitting to end with five cars in the top-six in Race 3 for the final TOCA meeting.
I’m extremely thankful to all of our drivers and my fantastic team that have made 2022 GJ’s so successful. But we now move onto 2023.”
