Jack Mitchell converted pole position into his second career Ginetta Junior Championship win during the opening round of the 2014 season at Brands Hatch.
With twenty drivers taking to the track, including a number making their car-racing debuts, the race turned out to a somewhat surprisingly calm opening round.
The only challenge for Mitchell’s lead through the race came at the first corner, when a quick-starting Ryan Hadfield briefly held the advantage at Paddock Hill.
JHR Developments’ Mitchell was back ahead by the end of the lap though, and was in full control for the remainder of the fourteen lap encounter to take victory in his Airwaves Racing-backed G40J by 2.4 seconds.
Hadfield held second for the first couple of laps, but slipped back to fourth behind James Kellett and Jamie Chadwick on lap three.
Reigning Winter Series champion Kellett was unable to mount a solid challenge on the leader, taking a comfortable second, while Chadwick fended off the attentions of Ryan and his brother Jonathan Hadfield to complete the podium.
Ryan took fourth in the end, with Jonathan a superb fifth after battling through from ninth on the grid, taking the Rookie Cup victory in the process.
It was a close fight for the Rookie honours though with Lando Norris. The HHC Motorsport newbie had qualified a superb third, but dropped back to a low of seventh over the first few laps of his first-ever car race. He fought back though to round out the top six.
Ben Pearson made it three R&J Motorsport cars in the top seven, having fended off the attentions of fellow top-ten finishers Jamie Caroline, Jack Rawles and Matt Chapman, the latter having battled up from fourteenth on the grid.
William Taylforth took eleventh ahead of Ginetta Scholarship winner Alex Sedgwick, who enjoyed a good fight with fellow rookies Billy Monger and Dan Zelos.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2014/141303gij.pdf
