R Racing Excel At Zandvoort With Double Ginetta Junior Win

R Racing have increased their advantage at the top of both the drivers’ and team’s standings in the 2026 Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels after launching the second half of the season with a brilliant double victory at Zandvoort (11/12 July).

The reigning Ginetta Junior champions took all three victories on the championship’s first ever trip to Zandvoort last year, and they were just 22-thousandths of a second shy of making it back-to-back trebles in the Netherlands after a brilliant performance last weekend.

Lewis Goff bounced back perfectly from a challenging weekend last time out at Croft to score two race victories and build his lead at the top of the championship. After qualifying third on Saturday, he pulled off a stunning double move on the opening lap of race one and went on to lead through to the finish.

A hard-fought third place result followed in race two, before he returned to the top step of the podium in the finale. Brilliant racecraft saw him take the lead on the final lap, securing him an eighth race win of the season and putting him over 80 points clear atop the standings.

Riley Cranham headed to the Netherlands full of confidence after securing his maiden victory at Croft. A frustrating start in Zandvoort saw a charge forward from ninth to fifth go unrewarded with an unfortunate incident, but he was right back on form in race two.

Cranham fought his way into the race lead and was set to take victory, just missing out by 0.022s in a thrilling photo finish. With a second overall podium finish of the season under his belt, he put in another battling performance in the final race to secure rookie class silverware in fifth overall.

Enjoying a brilliant start to the weekend was Melvin Kalousdian, who charged to his maiden pole position in qualifying. In the process, he became the third different R Racing driver to top a qualifying session this season, following Goff (Donington Park) and Cranham (Croft).

The Red Bull Junior Team driver fought his way to fifth place finishes in each of the first two races, before saving the best until last. Quickly establishing himself in the podium battle, he moved up to third on the penultimate lap and produced an expert defence from there to net his third podium of the year.

Jesse Phillips fought well through a challenging Zandvoort weekend. Finishing tenth in the opening race, the reigning Winter Series champion made good forwards progress in race two as he climbed up five positions to sixth overall, before replicating that finish in the final encounter.

After celebrating his best-ever results last time out at Croft, Sebastien Leusch put in another great all-round performance in the Netherlands. Rising five places to eighth in the opening race, he made progress again in race two en-route to tenth and went on to complete a hat-trick of top ten results.

Max Murray headed into the weekend with momentum on his side after taking a podium finish in each of the previous two events, but it sadly didn’t go his way in the Netherlands. After battling forward to seventh in race one, some issues on Sunday would deny him any further points.

Jamie Ross – R Racing Team Principal: “Zandvoort is a great circuit and perfectly suited to Ginetta Junior racing. They were three brilliant races over the weekend and we were delighted to come away from it with pole position, two wins and five podium finishes.

“After a disappointing Croft, this was a superb weekend for Lewis. A real return to form with three podiums from three races and two wins. He’s rising to the challenge of being championship leader and has stuck a new marker down that he’s capable of leading from the front and fighting through to win.

“It was a great performance again from Riley. He continued his run of having the best qualifying average on the grid, then produced superb pace in the races. The incident in race one was really unfortunate, then he was so unlucky not to win race two, but his speed and racecraft was top class.

“We came into this event really confident in Melvin for Zandvoort and he did a great job. Pole in qualifying was a brilliant effort from him, and shows that he’s turned a corner with his pace. He was fighting right at the front, rather than trying to catch the lead pack, and we want that to continue.

“Jesse has really good pace in testing, but qualifying didn’t quite come together and that hurt him over the weekend. He was trying to fight his way out of the midfield pack and it was an uphill battle to get to the leaders. He likes Snetterton next though and we’re confident he’ll bounce back well there.

“I’m really happy with where Sebastien is. He wanted a bit more from himself in qualifying, which fired him up for the races. He kept his nose clean, fought his way forward and came away with three top tens. He’s working hard and chipping away at it, moving closer to the front pack.

“Max did quite a good job in qualifying, inside the top ten. He didn’t have the rub of the green in the races though, getting tangled up in moments through no fault of his own. He didn’t get the results he wanted, but we’re proud of his mental approach to his racing and the maturity and resilience he showed.”

The 2026 Ginetta Junior Championship powered by Sunoco Race Fuels continues next month (15/16 August), with R Racing set to enjoy their home event at Snetterton in Norfolk.

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