Will Jenkins scored a valuable haul of points during the penultimate round of the 2020 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship season at Snetterton this past weekend (24/25 October), moving him up to ninth in the rookie standings.
The Hopkins Race Transporters supported driver arrived at the Norfolk circuit in high spirits coming off a rookie class podium at the previous race weekend at Croft.
Jenkins enjoyed a productive first practice session on Friday, gathering useful data in order to set the car up for qualifying on new tyres. The second practice session ran in wet conditions which wasn’t ideal, but he was still able to make the most of the session and get some useful track time completed.
On Saturday morning, the teenage talent put in a good performance in qualifying to go seventh fastest, despite not getting the perfect tow round the near three-mile Snetterton track.
The Staffordshire racer had a drama free opening race that afternoon, making a good start and avoiding a lap one incident. Moving up a position on lap two, he went on to stay sixth until the chequered flag.
Race two was a lot more dramatic. Jenkins made an impressive start going from tenth to eighth by the end of the first lap. However, after the halfway point of the race, he was pushed back to 14th thanks to contact with another driver.
The Asset Alliance Group, Digraph Transport Supplies and Corroconsult backed racer pushed hard as he could to make up the ground he had lost, but there were not enough laps left and he finished 13th.
The final race of the weekend on Sunday morning took place in dry sunny conditions. Jenkins was able to hang on to his 13th place starting position on the opening lap and enjoyed some close wheel to wheel racing with his rivals.
By lap three he'd gained a position and started to close in on the top ten. A couple of calculated overtakes in his Elite Racing Ginetta saw him move into tenth with two laps to go. A last lap move almost netted him eighth, but the 15 year old settled for tenth at the finish.
Will Jenkins: "I had a really strong first race weekend with Elite Racing last time out at Croft and even secured a rookie class podium, so I was in a very good, motivated mindset heading into Snetterton.
“The weekend started in a positive way. We worked on getting the balance of the car right in free practice and made a positive step forward in both the dry and wet, so I was looking forward to the rest of the weekend.
“Qualifying went well although I was a little unlucky with how the tow laps went. I wasn’t able to get the last lap on an improving circuit, but I was still happy to get 7th. I was confident we could race from there.
“The first race was drama free for me. I had to avoid a first lap incident but once I got up to sixth I was able to hold on to the position for seven laps and score some good points as a result.
“Race two couldn’t have been more different from race one. I had a good start but contact from another driver dropped me back. I recovered well to finish 13th.
“My start in the final race wasn’t the best, but I enjoyed clawing my way back up the order to 10th. Overall, there were a lot of positives to take away from the weekend and I’m looking forward to ending my rookie Ginetta Junior season in a strong way.”
The final race weekend of the 2020 Ginetta Junior Championship takes place at Brands Hatch on the Indy circuit on 14/15 November.
Photo from Jakob Ebrey Photography.