Jamie Caroline took his second win of his maiden Ginetta Junior Championship season with victory in the opening race at Brands Hatch, an encounter that was limited to less than three racing laps before a safety car finish.
Lando Norris had started the race from pole position, however a slow start for the HHC Motorsport racer gave fellow front-row starter Caroline the advantage. It would go from bad to worse for Norris too, an issue at Druids dropping him right down the field.
Caroline went on to comfortably lead the race until the safety car boards came out on lap three, after JHR Developments’ Senna Proctor put his G40J into the barriers at the top of Paddock Hill Bend.
With it proving to be a tricky retrieval for the recovery team, the remaining race time ran out behind the safety car to give Caroline the victory, with James Kellett following him home for his eleventh podium of the season.
Taking his maiden outright podium finish in third meanwhile was Jack Rawles, the Tollbar Racing ace heading newly-crowned champion Jack Mitchell and Alex Sedgwick, those two having switched places shortly before the safety car emerged.
Dan Zelos completed a trio of JHR runners in sixth ahead of R&J Motorsport duo Ryan Hadfield and Ben Pearson, the latter taking eighth despite a full 360 degrees spin coming out of Druids on the opening lap.
Norris recovered from his dramas to take ninth, with Jamie Chadwick rounding out the top ten ahead of Harry Mailer, Flashman Finneran, Jonathan Hadfield – a spinner on the opening lap – Matt Chapman and Lewis Brown.
