Alex Ninovic scored his seventh and eighth victories of the campaign at Donington Park to emphatically win the 2025 GB3 Championship with a round to spare.
The Rodin Motorsport driver continued his imperious form into the final UK leg of the season, bagging his eighth pole of the year in qualifying, And he duly converted that into a win behind the safety car in the opener, having pulled over five seconds clear of Reza Seewooruthun before Keanu Al Azhari crashed into the barriers exiting Old Hairpin.
Ninovic’s nearest rival Patrick Heuzenroeder was shuffled back to fifth by Deagen Fairclough on lap one before Fortec Motorsports’ debutant Liam McNeilly – on his return to UK single-seaters having starred in the States – caused an early caution period by spinning into the gravel.
Fairclough locked horns with Noah Lisle at the restart, but then lost out to Heuzenroeder who performed a switchback move at McLeans, and the Hitech racer eventually slipped to sixth behind Lucas Fluxa.
Seewooruthun was again Ninovic’s main challenger in race two. Having taken his first pole, the Argenti driver was beaten to Redgate by the Australian who moved before the lights went out and soon was awarded a 10s penalty.
Ninovic pulled out a 3s advantage over the first four laps before a brief safety car period due to JHR Developments’ Kai Daryanani stopping at Melbourne hairpin. He romped clear again following the restart, and overcame his penalty to win again by finishing over 11s ahead of Seewooruthun, who held off Fairclough for second.
Even a false start penalty couldn’t deny Ninovic a double GB3 win
Photo by: JEP
A frenetic battle raged behind the front three at various stages, with Heuzenroeder prevailing to take fourth again, while a jump-start penalty cost McNeilly fifth. VRD’s Patricio Gonzalez starred in the early stages before coming home sixth behind Fluxa.
Having extended his lead to 99 points, Ninovic needed to gain just three more over Heuzenroeder in the reversed-grid finale in order to clinch the crown. And that task was made easier by his chief rival being eliminated in a four-car opening-lap crash.
Ninovic had already climbed four places to eighth by the time Heuzenroeder tangled with Seewooruthun at Fogarty. In the ensuing chaos behind, Rodin’s Abbi Pulling was launched over the top of Flynn Jackes’ car.
Racing resumed for a short period once the incident had been cleared before Gianmarco Pradel found the barriers at Coppice and caused a further caution.
There were five minutes of allotted time remaining when the track returned to green, and Xcel’s Jack Sherwood immediately tried to snatch second from Bart Harrison into Redgate. He made another attempt into Old Hairpin, but ended up slipping to fourth behind McNeilly.
The front five remained nose to tail until the finish, with Hillspeed’s Fluxa leading home Harrison, McNeilly, Sherwood and Al Azhari for a maiden win. Lisle finished sixth, while Ninovic gained one further place to seventh to take the title.
“Super happy to wrap it up this weekend,” said Ninovic. “I had no real expectations [of winning it here]. The second half of the season has almost been faultless. It’s been a really good year.”
Bansal bounces back to snatch GB4 crown
Poor qualifying performance meant Bansal thought his title dream was over – only for his rivals to collide
Photo by: JEP
Elite Motorsport’s Ary Bansal produced an unlikely comeback to win the GB4 Championship during a dramatic deciding weekend at Donington Park.
Sitting third in the standings at the beginning of the event, the Indian racer’s title hopes were further dented by qualifying well behind his two main rivals.
Bansal’s team-mate Isaac Phelps boosted his own chances by denying pre-event points leader Daniel Guinchard pole for the first two contests, but the title race was turned on its head within moments of the opener getting under way.
Guinchard rear-ended Phelps under braking for Old Hairpin, leaving the pair well down the order. Bansal charged from ninth to finish second, while Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard scored a maiden victory and his team-mate Lucas Blakeley took third on his racing return.
Arden’s Leon Wilson prevailed in a penalty-strewn sequel ahead of Stefan Bostandjiev and Ava Dobson. All three title contenders were punished for track-limits infringements, with Guinchard’s post-race 30s penalty handing Bansal the championship advantage.
Bansal climbed from fourth on the reversed grid to win race three and to extend his lead heading into the finale – a rescheduled contest from the previous round. Leandro Juncos led home a Hillspeed 1-2 for a maiden victory ahead of Guinchard, but third was enough for Bansal to become champion.
“I didn’t really see this coming with the qualifying that we had – in my mind I thought the championship was already over,” he said. “But, after the first lap of the first race, I was like, ‘I’m back in it,’ and it got better and better [from there].”
Charging Dutchman Coronel celebrates his Ginetta Junior success
Photo by: JEP
All three Ginetta crowns were also wrapped up in the East Midlands. Red Bull protege Rocco Coronel (R Racing) sealed the Ginetta Junior title by finishing fourth in race one, which ended in dramatic fashion when George Proudford-Nalder (MDD Racing) was cruelly denied his maiden win by a spectacular engine failure one corner from home. Max Cuthbert (R Racing) inherited the spoils, having pulled clear of Fred Green and Scott Kin Lindblom in the closing stages.
Scholarship winner Green edged out Jarrett Clark and Lindblom in the other two encounters to end the campaign with nine wins and runner-up in the standings.
James Nicholas scored a hat-trick of wins to seal the Ginetta GT Academy title in style. After a close three-way fight this season with his E3 Sport team-mate Jamie Caudle and MDD Racing’s Charlie Digby, Nicholas was unstoppable when it mattered at the finale, sharing the podium in all three races with Caudle and rookie class champion Sam Shrimpton.
“Last year it was looking like I may win it, but it got to my head – it was purely psychological,” Nicholas said. “This year it started off badly but I finished well.”
Second behind the in-form Jack Collins (E3 Sport) was enough for Archie Clark (MDD Racing) to win the Ginetta GT Championship in the opener. A huge multi-car shunt halted the sequel, with Harry Gamble denying Collins the double when it was restarted later in the day. Mike Taylor scored a podium brace on his return from a season-halting crash at Oulton Park.
Clark claimed the Ginetta GT crown as the season concluded at Donington Park
Photo by: JEP
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