Total Control Racing boss Lee Brookes described the team’s maiden Ginetta Junior Championship podium finish as a “breath of fresh air”, after Jamie Caroline took a breakthrough third place in Round Four at Donington Park.
The podium came after a superb drive from the 14 year old in tricky conditions, who had finished sixth in the weekend’s first race. After climbing into the top six on the opening lap, Caroline moved up to fourth by the end of lap four.
Setting the fastest lap of the race two laps later, the karting graduate went on to grab third on the final lap for his and the teams first podium since debuting in the category at the start of the year.
While Caroline was starring, team-mate Matt Chapman encountered a difficult weekend. A tough opening race saw him finish an uncharacteristic nineteenth, while an unfortunate excursion into the gravel in the wet second race led to his first retirement of the season.
“It was a like a breath of fresh air to get our first podium in Ginetta Junior with Jamie, to get fastest lap too was great,” said Brookes. “It’s what we thought we should have had at Brands but it didn’t work out there. Unfortunately Matt was out of position after qualifying so it was a tough weekend for him but he’ll be back on form at the next one.”
