Emma Scarbrough makes encouraging Ginetta Junior Winter Series debut

Making her debut in the highly-competitive Ginetta Junior Championship, Emma Scarbrough enjoyed a positive weekend finishing each race inside the top-15 and achieving a best finish of 12th at Silverstone, where the American racer made her closed wheel debut following a good rookie season in USF Juniors.

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

Emma Scarbrough enjoyed a positive debut in the Ginetta Junior Winter Series as she achieved a best finish of 12^th at Silverstone. Driving for R Racing, the American racer made her closed wheel debut following a good rookie season in USF Juniors. Adapting to changeable conditions throughout the event, Scarbrough finished all three races inside the top-15, while Emma was consistently among the highest-placed debutants. 

Making her debut in the highly-competitive Ginetta Junior Championship brought a new challenge for Scarbrough who previously raced in single seater machinery. The seventeen-year-old American driver finished 15^th in the 2025 USF Juniors standings driving for Inter MS. Scarbrough achieved ten top-15 results across the campaign with a best finish of eighth coming at Mid-Ohio.

In September, Scarbrough took part in the F1 Academy rookie test where she represented KICK Sauber F1 team driving a Rodin Motorsport prepared machine. Scarbrough completed 71 laps at Circuito de Navarra on her way to a fastest time of a 1:47.977 which placed her inside the top-10 during the morning session.

To gain further knowledge on her motorsport journey, Scarbrough joined championship winning team R Racing for her first experience of closed-wheel racing. Competing at the home of British motorsport, Scarbrough joined a talented field of young drivers as they participated in three races across a weekend of changeable conditions at Silverstone. 

Qualifying was the first competitive session of the weekend and it took place in damp conditions on Saturday morning. As is customary for the Ginetta Junior Championship, the drivers were given just three flying laps in which to set a fast lap time. With track conditions evolving and Scarbrough’s lack of experience in the car, this made it a steep learning curve for the R Racing driver. Nonetheless, Scarbrough did a nice job to qualify in 16^th position overall, fifth of those making their series debut at Silverstone, with a quickest lap of a 1:20.265. 

The first race of the weekend was held later on Saturday morning with the track predominantly dry at Silverstone. Scarbrough lined up from 16^th on the grid and she made a clean start on her Ginetta Junior debut, ending lap in 18^th spot. The R Racing driver was finding her feet in the early stages as she adapted to the drier conditions and on lap two, fellow newcomer Kai Veitch overtook the American racer. 

Scarbrough then got into a consistent rhythm and by lap four, she had re-passed Veitch while also benefiting from a spin for Luke Walton. After Walton’s car was unable to continue, the safety car was deployed with Riley Cranham also coming to a halt with a technical issue. During the short neutralisation period, Scarbrough ran in 16^th position with just one lap spent at a reduced speed.

The race resumed on lap seven and Scarbrough immediately set a new personal best time. On lap nine, an off-track moment for Vladislav Tomenchuk elevated Emma inside the top-15 for the first time as she continued to make progress on her series debut. The slipstream effect was particularly powerful in the dry conditions and Veitch made his way back ahead on lap 11. 

Scarbrough was showing especially good speed in the final sector and this was enabling her to remain in touch with the group ahead. On lap 12, contact at the head of the field between Harry Bartle, Jarrett Clark and Colin Cronin saw Cronin fall down the order after a spin. Scarbrough was now back into 15^th position and with Raul Zunzarren ahead receiving a time penalty for exceeding track limits, there was still progress to be made. 

On lap 14, Scarbrough again improved upon her personal best time and on the final lap of the race she overtook Veitch for 14^th position. Following penalties assessed to both Zunzarren and Jamie Ambrose, Scarbrough was promoted to 12^th position to complete an excellent debut race in which the R Racing driver made good progress in the highly-competitive field. Emma also finished as the third-highest debutant to underline her adaptability as she continued to learn a new style of racing.

Race two of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying. As a result, Scarbrough lined up from 15^th on the grid and the American racer got an excellent launch away from the line. It was a busy opening lap and at the end of the first tour, Scarbrough was scored in 16^th position.

During the first flying lap, Emma set a time quicker than she managed during race one as the R Racing driver took advantage of the fully dry conditions. On lap three, fellow debutant Ambrose moved ahead as he was looking to recover from the rear of the grid after a challenging qualifying session. Scarbrough was then tasked with defending her position from Veitch with the duo enjoying a fantastic battle in their maiden event in the series.

Scarbrough and Veitch continued to swap positions during the middle portion of the race and on lap seven, the R Racing driver dipped below a time of 1:13 for the first time all weekend. Two laps later, Veitch moved back ahead before the race entered a safety car following a sizeable incident for Revie Lake. Under the neutralisation period, Scarbrough ran in 17^th position with the restart coming with a little over three minutes remaining. 

On the restart lap, Scarbrough did a superb job to again move forward despite a number of incidents unfolding around her. Emma overtook both Tomenchuk and Sebastian Leusch while Noah Young became beached in the gravel following a close midfield battle. The race ended one lap early due to Young’s stranded car and as a result, Scarbrough took the chequered flag in 14^th position, later promoted to 13^th, to collect her second top-15 result in as many races, while finishing as the fifth-highest debutant. 

The third and final race of the weekend was held on Sunday morning with wet conditions returning to Silverstone. Courtesy of her 13^th place finish in race two, Scarbrough lined up from the seventh row of the grid in her R Racing machine. As the lights went out, it was a busy run to Copse corner with Scarbrough doing a nice job to avoid the spun car of Veitch. After being slightly delayed, Emma completed lap one in 17^th position.

On lap two, Scarbrough was involved in a close three-way battle for position and she had an unfortunate spin at Brooklands. This dropped the American racer to 19^th spot after Tomenchuk and Veitch moved ahead with Scarbrough now cut adrift from the midfield runners. The race then settled into a rhythm with Emma now hoping for a safety car in order to bring her back in contention to those ahead. 

On lap seven, the race did indeed enter a safety car period after Walton had a solo spin at Copse. With his MDD machine beached in the gravel, the race was neutralised while the marshals worked fast to push Walton back onto the circuit. Due to the short duration of the safety car period, Scarbrough was just unable to catch the back of the queue as the race resumed. 

On the restart, Scarbrough set a new personal best time and she was now looking to close in on the group of drivers who were around five seconds ahead. The following lap saw a multi-car incident at the head of the field at Luffield and although most of the drivers were able to continue, Scarbrough overtook the delayed machine of Lewis Goff. After being caught up in the incident, Jarrett Clark then retired into the gravel which led to a second safety car period with Scarbrough now into 16^th position.

Despite the best efforts of the marshals, the race ended behind the safety car with Scarbrough taking the chequered flag in 16^th spot. Following a series of track limits penalties applied to her rivals ahead, Emma was promoted to 13^th in the final classification to complete an excellent debut weekend at Silverstone.

Scarbrough adapted superbly to a new style of racing while battling challenging conditions at the home of British motorsport. Finishing each race inside the top-15, Emma worked with her R Racing team to improve over the course of the event as she diversifies her skillset ahead of the 2026 season.