Ginetta Junior: Zelos fired-up to get back on-track on home soil

JHR Developments star confident Croft issues all resolvedDan Zelos has vowed to return from the summer break all guns blazing when the 2015 Ginetta Junior Championship revs back into life at Snetterton next weekend (8/9 August).Zelos entered his sophomore season in the fiercely-disputed, ITV4-televised BTCC support series – the UK’s premier championship for aspiring young racers, allowing precociously talented 14-to-17-year-olds to earn their motorsport spurs before they can even legally drive on the road – widely regarded as a title protagonist off the back of a remarkable rookie campaign last year. Zelos certainly lived up to that billing in the early rounds, tallying a hat-trick of podiums behind the wheel of his distinctive, Evergreen Tyres-sponsored and JHR Developments-prepared Ginetta G40 and taking the chequered flag inside the top ten in each of the opening eight races – the only one of the 28 high-calibre contenders to do so. That saw him well-placed indeed in third position in the points standings, but his sparkling run was abruptly halted at Croft last time out, when a lack of engine power and various other undiagnosed dramas left the highly-rated Dereham-based hotshot a long way shy of the leading pace and in distinctly unaccustomed territory. No matter what changes were made, nothing seemed to provide a cure, and to add insult to injury, Zelos then found himself collected as an innocent party in another driver’s accident, compounding what was by some margin the worst weekend of his fledgling car racing career. Much midnight oil has been burnt since then, however, and following a positive test session at Snetterton last week, the 17-year-old Dereham Sixth Form College AS-Level student is in considerably more optimistic mood heading next to his home circuit, scene of no fewer than five rostrum finishes in 2014 – two in the main championship and a further three in the Winter Series.“Croft was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, with problems the whole way through,” Zelos reflected. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a weekend as bad as that before! It’s firmly behind us now, though, and the team have spent a lot of time looking into what went wrong – we’re confident we have located and resolved the source of the issues.“The JHR boys have rebuilt my car completely from scratch, and it felt good straight out-of-the-box when we tested recently – we were quick in all conditions – so with a bit more running before the race meeting, we should be right on the pace when the serious business gets underway. Snetterton is a fun track to drive – as well as the longest on the calendar – and it usually produces close racing.“It’s obviously an important weekend for us, because I’m keen to put on a good show for all my sponsors, family and friends coming along – being only a few miles down the road, there will probably be more people present supporting me than usual. That said, just because it’s my local circuit doesn’t give me any kind of head-start over my rivals – it’s so competitive in Ginetta Juniors that there’s no such thing as ‘home advantage’ – but I’m hoping my experience will play in my favour.“I’m definitely ready to go racing again after the long summer break. It’s been good to have some time off after a busy first half to the season and it gave us the opportunity to regroup, but now I really want to get back out there. So far, we’ve not had quite the same consistency as last year in terms of results, but the momentum was beginning to build before Croft – so we need to pick that back up at Snetterton and beyond and really run with it!”

If you are interested in getting involved in life in the fast lane by sponsoring Dan, please contact: dan@danzelos.com


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