Will Jenkins has moved just one point away from the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge championship lead following a superb third win of the 2022 season at Silverstone this past weekend (07/08 May).
Jenkins continued his busy start to the season with a third race event in four weeks. Looking to build on two brilliant race wins in the opening six races, he returned to Silverstone with fond memories of his breakthrough Ginetta Junior victory there last year.
This time around he would compete on the full Grand Prix circuit though and having got acquainted with the layout during pre-season testing, he was straight on the front-running pace come official testing on Friday and then qualifying the next day.
The Staffordshire racer was right in the mix for pole position throughout the session as he secured second on the grid for both of the weekend’s races. Completing a one-two finish for Elite Motorsport, Jenkins was confident of challenging for silverware in race one.
It would prove to be a tough first half of the race for the 17 year old though, with some challenging moments leaving him down in eighth position. He produced a tremendous fight back from there though, impressively picking off drivers one-by-one to rise to third place at the finish.
Jenkins went on to produce a stunning performance in race two on Sunday. A great launch off the line saw him take the race lead into the first corner, before some battling behind allowed him to pull an immediate gap at the front of the field.
From there, the Stone based driver produced a faultless performance as he pounded in consistent, fast lap times to build a near six second advantage. Controlling the race through to the finish, he scored the victory to become the first driver to reach three race wins in the championship this year.
The Hopkins Motorsport, Asset Alliance Group, Corroconsult and Digraph supported driver is now one point shy of championship leader Connor Grady heading into the next rounds of the championship at Thruxton in three weeks’ time (28/29 May).
Will Jenkins: ’“This hasn’t been the easiest weekend at all, so to come away with another race win, two podium finishes and second in the championship is absolutely amazing. Elite Motorsport have been fantastic all weekend and I’m pleased I could reward their efforts in this way.
“It was an honour to race on such a world famous circuit, so to win on it as well is the icing on the cake. Our pace was good from the off and I was happy to be fighting for pole position in qualifying, I just didn’t quite hook my lap together in the end.
“Race one was a proper rollercoaster and it was good fun working my way back up the order to the podium. The second race couldn’t have gone any better, I was able to get the lead and then keep my head down and pull away. To win a race in each of the opening three meetings is fantastic.
“We’re almost at the halfway mark in the championship and it’s game on now for the title. I qualified on the front row at Thruxton in the Juniors last year, so I’m confident I can go there and challenge for more race wins next time out.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.