Two finalists have been selected to progress to a winner-takes-all Ginetta shootout following an intensive two-day assessment process at Bedford Autodrome this week. The winning driver will earn a fully financed drive in the 2024 Ginetta GT Academy as part of a total prize estimated to be worth £100,000.
James Nicholas and David Williams impressed judges in multiple driving challenges, including sessions at the wheel of the Caterham PalmerSport Edition and Palmer JP-LM, prior to a final evaluation in the Ginetta G56 GTA. The selected candidates were stand-outs from an impressive crop of more than 50 contestants vying for the opportunity of a race seat.
James and David will head to Donington Park on Monday (11 March) for the next stage, with a final assessment, this time in the Ginetta race car itself, following an ARDS Race Licence test.
James Nicholas said: “It was a goosebump moment, I was over the moon. Now I’m apprehensive, very excited and nervous. I spent all last night thinking about Monday. I won’t be holding back!
“The thought of actually winning and racing is a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I want to leave with no regrets. I’m going to try my best and hopefully go and win it.”
David Williams said: “I was very happy with my performance but I don’t like to build up too much hope with these things, having done a few competitions like this in the past and been disappointed before. I need to take the possibility of winning a little more seriously now so I’ll try and come in as prepared as possible but again I need to accept that there is a possibility that I won’t make it to get through to the championship.
“You can push for it hard, but you can also push for it too hard and get carried away, that has happened in the past with similar scenarios that I’ve been in. I need to be quite disciplined but I’ll certainly give it my best shot. I don’t want to have any regrets and we’ll see what happens.”
The winner will compete in seven weekends and 21 races of the Ginetta GT Academy’s 2024 season, six of them on the prestigious British GT Championship support line-up. The PalmerSport-branded Ginetta G56 GTA race car will be run by the Ginetta factory team.
The winning contestant will line up on the grid at Oulton Park for their first ever car race on Easter Weekend (29 March – 1 April). We’ll be following their progress closely and sharing regular updates across our social media channels!
PalmerSport is already planning to run another competition to win a full season’s drive in next year’s Ginetta GT Academy, once again in partnership with Ginetta Cars. Details will be announced in due course. For any enquiries in the meantime please email [email protected].
