Jamie Caroline holds the advantage as the Ginetta Junior Championship heads north to Knockhill this weekend, however Senna Proctor and Billy Monger are leading a pack of drivers determined to wrestle control from him in Scotland.
The annual pilgrimage north of the border comes after HHC Motorsport’s Caroline saw his winning streak, extended to five in the opener at Snetterton two weeks ago, come to an end in a troublesome race two which featured penalties and punctures for the points leader.
That opened the door for his rivals to close in, and the big mover was Monger who climbed back into title contention with pole position, a win and a second place in Norfolk – results that move him from 74 to 48 points behind Caroline.
Splitting them in the standings is Monger’s JHR Developments team-mate Proctor, who returned to the podium at Snetterton for his seventh visit of the season so far, which helped him narrowly gain ground on Caroline to leave the gap at 22 points heading to a circuit he finished on the podium at last season.
Joining his team-mates in a JHR one-two-three finish in the Snetterton closer was Dan Zelos, a much needed podium following recent troubles that have dropped him to fourth in the standings. His focus now is on taking a first win of the year, with his last success having come nearly twelve months ago.
The ever consistent Lewis Brown took another pair of top five finishes at Snetterton meanwhile, the second year contender having now finished in the top six on nine occasions with R&J Motorsport, a figure only matched by the championship leader Caroline.
Leading the podium challenge from the rookies at Knockhill should be Patrik Matthiesen, who returned to the outright podium finish for a third time at Snetterton, and the in-form Will Tregurtha, who superbly secured a seasons best fourth place last time out.
Alex Day meanwhile qualified and finished in the top six for the first time, a breakthrough weekend for the Tollbar Racing man, while Geri Nicosia also got a maiden top six finish – results both drivers will be aiming to carry the momentum from into Knockhill.
Charlie Fagg became the twentieth different driver to finish in the top ten this season, doing so in just his fourth race of the season at Snetterton, and his HHC team-mate Devlin DeFrancesco should be next after qualifying in the top ten on his first two weekends in the series so far.
Pole position holders earlier in the campaign, Stuart Middleton and Dave Wooder should be back battling at the front after tough outings two weeks ago, while Matt Chapman will be hoping to finally turn his impressive one-lap pace into a long-awaited maiden top six finish.
With Will Stacey and Esmee Hawkey expected to be missing from action, a 22 car grid is set to battle it out this weekend around the tight and twisty 1.27 mile Knockhill circuit, with the action sure to be as close and frenetic as always as we move towards the business end of the 2015 campaign.
2015 Kick Start Energy Ginetta Junior Championship Standings (After Rd. 12 of 20):
- Jamie Caroline – 294 points
- Senna Proctor – 272
- Billy Monger – 246
- Dan Zelos – 221
- Sophia Floersch – 211
- Lewis Brown – 201
- Jonathan Hadfield – 190
- Patrik Matthiesen – 184
- Stuart Middleton – 153
- Will Tregurtha – 151
Full championship standings ahead of the meeting can be found here.
