While Ginetta may not be a household name in U.S. racing circles, the UK race company has made a name for itself in fostering new driving talent within Europe. Drivers such as Genesis Magma Racing test and reserve driver Jamie Chadwick, NTT IndyCar Series rising star Louis Foster and even reigning Formula 1 champion Lando Norris all got their starts in the Ginetta Junior Championship in the UK.
Known as an affordable and educational entry point for aspiring drivers, the Lawrence Tomlinson-owned group is now hoping to extend the success of its products into the North American market, namely in helping develop up-and-coming and amateur drivers for SRO America competition.
Its recent deal with SRO Motorsports Group that has seen the Stephane Ratel-owned organization take over race operations of Ginetta’s Juniors, GT Academy and GT Championship series, which forms a core part of the British GT Championship, has further aligned itself with SRO, which has served as the organizer and promoter of the the national championship for more than 20 years.
With a successful business in building and selling cost-effective race cars, ranging from G40 Junior Evo to the G56-based GTA, GTP8, GT4 Evo and GT2 models in the UK and Europe, Ginetta Motorsport CEO Mike Simpson says they’re working to expand that model fully into North America.
It established Ginetta North America in 2021 by acquiring a controlling interest in U.S.-based low-volume sports car manufacturer TMI AutoTech and its 60,000 square-foot headquarters in South Boston, Virginia before launching Ginetta Challenge North America for its V6-powered GTA cars within the SVRA competition, which has so far served as the foundation for its U.S. motorsport involvement.
According to Simpson, an active effort is underway to ramp up its involvement in the motorsports ‘country club’ scene in the U.S. to offer a direct pathway from track days to entry-level racing and into professionally run series such as SRO America.
“There’s a three-pronged attack,” Simpson tells Sportscar365. “We want agents to specifically sell the race cars; that’s our bread and butter. Then we’ve got the clubs, getting into [racing] resorts, trying to get members to buy the cars, and then have club racing. From that, you then take those people that want to step up to SRO.
“Our Ginetta Challenge we have with the V6 car is running well, anywhere from 15-20-plus cars this year. It’s SVRA but again, it’s just a feeder. Globally we’re partnered with SRO. They run all of our UK series, including Ginetta Juniors. They firmly see the job Ginetta does to put people on the grid.”
Simpson says that 48 drivers competing in British GT graduated from the Ginetta UK grids, a correlation he could see being replicated in the U.S., but in SRO America competition.
While Tomlinson has been racing the G56 GT2 car in GT America powered by AWS competition this year, Ginetta’s GTP8 model is also eligible in the single-driver sprint series, in a dedicated Cup class, with David Lecko (pictured above, right with Lawrence Tomlinson) having been among the first graduates from Ginetta Challenge North America.
“GT America is great because it’s only for the Bronze drivers who are buying the cars,” says Simpson. “That model has changed a lot since COVID where the actual end user — consumers — buy the car. In my [racing] day, it was always the team would pick the brand, buy the car and sell the seats. Where now you’re relying on the Am to come with the car and a service provider would run any type of car.
“Our business model is to go direct to the consumer, tell them why they should migrate from [track days] into racing, in our product. If we do that, hand-hold them through that journey, we should be able to direct them in.
“Support is key. There’s no point in selling a car to a club [racer] if you can’t support it. Every car when it’s brand new is very reliable but when it gets to the end of the year you’ve got the routine maintenance to do and you’ve got to have that network around.
“We’ve spent the last 24 months really upping what we do. We’re on an a active search for good partners, good distributors who can sell the cars and service them in different regions [of the U.S.].”
Simpson says Ginetta North America, run by Mark Swain, has the same capability as its UK headquarters in Leeds to build and service cars, which is critical given the fluid geopolitical tariff situation, which has led Ginetta to have a large stockpile of cars and parts in Virginia.
“We need to do a good job of showing that pathway into professional motorsport,” says Simpson. “Europe is tightening, with what’s going on. The top will always be strong but that mid-level type of racing which is Ginetta is aimed at, the entry point to professional racing, there’s a little squeeze there.
“For me, the buoyant market is here [in the U.S.]. I see a new culture happening here, which is club racing, maybe less officiated, but more events where you drive people to the clubs on the weekends, you get people having fun and you take them on this journey of being a track day user to be a race driver, get them with a good driver coach who can prove them.
“Then you bring them to SRO. It’s clubs, into the Ginetta Challenge, or straight into GT America as a Bronze driver. We’ve got some younger guys and some Pro-Am pairings that can do GT4.”
The G56 GT4 Evo, which is eligible for GT America and Pirelli GT4 America competition, is priced at $275,000 USD and is considered to be in the middle range of Ginetta’s offerings, with the GTA ($135,000) and GTP8 ($225,000) more affordable options according to Swain.
Unlike traditional OEMs, Ginetta doesn’t have a GT3 offering as it doesn’t mass-produce production cars. Instead, Simpson says they’re more than happy to see their customers eventually graduate into other brands.
“Hopefully they’ll stay with us for a couple of years,” he says. “Maybe they’ll end up in a Porsche or a Ford or whatever GT3 [car]. But without Ginetta doing what we do, we’re laying the foundation.
“Ginetta is the first touch-point for Stephane [Ratel] outside of his GT4 entry point,” he says. “We’re very proud that we are the starting car in Europe, really, where you come in, you learn your trade as a junior or as an amateur in the V6 and you end up racing a Porsche or a BMW.
“But without Ginetta, people like Darren Leung and people like this who do many programs, we find them and bring them in. We get them all in the same environment, racing together, and if we do our job well, we can retain them for five years.
“We’re very proud to have competed with the manufacturers, and have done very well in all categories, but it’s taken us 20 years to understand our place in [motorsports].”
Photos: Andrew Miterko/SRO, Ginetta North America & Kaizen Autosport