Jamie Caroline has extended his winning run in the Ginetta Junior Championship to five consecutive victories with another dominant victory in the opening race of the weekend at Snetterton.
Caroline rose from third on the grid to challenge pole-sitter Billy Monger into Montreal for the first time, and while he was unsuccessful then, he managed to get into the lead later around the lap.
His attempts at breaking clear straight away were thwarted by the appearance of the safety car after a multi-car incident at Montreal first time around, caused by contact from Kyle Hornby on Matt Chapman.
A stranded Chapman was collected by Jonathan Hadfield, fourth place starter Devlin DeFrancesco, Will Stacey and Rowan Bailey, causing Chapman’s retirement. While Hadfield continued with a damaged G40, the other three made trips into the pitlane to repair damage.
It Was An Action-Packed First Trip Through Montreal – Credit: Simon Paice Media
At the restart, Caroline enjoyed a great opening lap to storm over eight tenths of a second clear of the pack – which gave him a trouble free run to the chequered flag and an extended 47 point championship lead.
Monger maintained second throughout the race to pick up his fifth podium finish of the season, and luck certainly proved to be on his side as shortly after he crossed the finish line, his G40 suffered a collapsed suspension that left him stranded trackside post-race.
Recovering from a moment into Agostini on the opening lap that cost him a few spots, Patrik Matthiesen fought back past Alex Day and then Lewis Brown out of Murray’s on the penultimate lap to take the final podium place.
Brown and Day followed him home, fifth for the latter being his best finish of the season so far, while Senna Proctor secured sixth ahead of his JHR Developments team-mate Dan Zelos – both of whom were left frustrated after harbouring podium hopes for the weekend.
Hornby secured eighth ahead of Will Tregurtha and Sebastian Perez, while Geri Nicosia picked up eleventh despite an off track moment avoiding a spinning Hadfield – the R&J Motorsport man ending a tough race down in seventeenth.
Charlie Fagg took an impressive twelfth from 21st on the grid, while fellow newcomer from Croft Connor Grady was close behind in fourteenth.
Full race results can be found here.
