Jack Mitchell remains a comfortable leader at the top of the Ginetta Junior Championship standings as the series prepares for its seventh meeting of the season at Knockhill in Scotland this weekend.
While Mitchell goes into the meeting with a 79 point lead at head of the championship, it’s HHC Motorsport team-mates James Kellett and Lando Norris who head north of the border as the in-form drivers.
The duo have shared for the past four race wins between themselves, both taking a win apiece at Croft and Snetterton either side of the five-week summer break. Those successes have taken them to second and third in the standings, and they’ll be hoping to continue their dominant spell at Knockhill.
While Mitchell didn’t make it onto the podium at Snetterton, the JHR Developments ace kept out of trouble and amassed a solid points haul to take him one step closer to the title. While his focus will be on maintaining the gap to Kellett, he will also naturally be aiming to add to his six wins so far this season.
Alongside the HHC drivers, the other podium finisher at Snetterton was Dan Zelos with a pair of third place finishes to make it five for the season. Those results cemented his top five spot in the standings, and with just fifteen points separating him from Norris, a strong Knockhill weekend can move him into contention for an overall top three finish.
Mitchell and Zelos are leading an impressive quintet at JHR, with their team-mates Jamie Chadwick, Alex Sedgwick and Senna Proctor also drivers to watch in Scotland.
Chadwick took her only top five finish of 2013 at Knockhill and will be pushing for a maiden Junior race win this time around, while Ginetta Scholarship winner Sedgwick and Proctor are both sure to be in contention for more outright top six finishes.
One driver aiming to bounce back after recent troubles meanwhile will be Jamie Caroline. While two exclusions and a retirement in the last six races have halted his progress, the Total Control Racing driver has shown he has the pace to win and will be hoping to add to his four podium finishes so far.
A team hoping for a return to earlier form meanwhile will be R&J Motorsport. The team’s lead driver Ryan Hadfield slipped from second to fourth in the points at Snetterton and only has one podium finish from the last nine races, while stablemate Ben Pearson has picked up just one top six finish in the last six outings.
Also drivers to watch will be Jack Rawles, who took a third top six finish of the season at Snetterton, and previous top six finisher William Taylforth, who will be aiming to bounce back after a tough first meeting with new team Total Control Racing.
Qualifying for Rounds Thirteen and Fourteen at Knockhill takes place at 14.35 on Saturday, with the opening race following later that afternoon at 17.40. Race two follows at 11.00 on Sunday morning.