Dan Zelos continued his superb maiden Ginetta Junior Championship campaign with a podium double at his home event at Snetterton.
Fresh from taking a second podium of the season at Croft prior to the summer break to add to his breakthrough Thruxton victory, the East Anglian native hoped for a positive weekend in front a large crowd of friends, family and sponsors.
A positive meeting is exactly what he had, the JHR Developments driver kicking it off by posting his best qualifying effort of the season to date with two fourth place grid starts.
In race one, Zelos broke away with the leading pack early on and snatched third from Ryan Hadfield at Agostini on lap four – a greatly timed move as the safety car appeared soon after and neutralised the race to the chequered flag.
In the live televised race two, Zelos emerged from a tight first corner in third place, and once again quickly broke away with the leaders. The top three went on to run nose-to-tai for the remainder of the race, crossing the line just four tenths of a second apart.
That result was Zelos’ fifth podium in twelve races and consolidated the 16 year old’s fifth position in the championship standings – a stark contrast from his car-racing debut at the venue nine months previously in the Junior Winter Series.
Zelos said: “I was really happy to come away with another rostrum, though, and it’s interesting to look back to my car racing debut in the Ginetta Junior Winter Series at Snetterton last November and appreciate how far we’ve come. I was more than five seconds off the pace here nine months ago and remember looking up at my team-mate on the podium – and now that’s me.”
