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Reigning British and Italian
champion, Jack Harvey, added his name to the biggest roll of honour in junior
karting over the weekend, when he took the title of European Champion with a
fantastic lights-to-flag victory at the Italian circuit of Sarno. The result
confirms the youngster to be the top KF3 category driver in the world
today.
The Alpinestars backed factory
Maranello Kart driver, went into the event as favourite for the European crown
and a perfect weekend of racing allowed him dominate the rest of the 72-kart
field and lead home an all-British lock-out of the KF3 class
podium.
“This is the biggest win of my career so far,”
said an elated Harvey. “It doesn’t get any bigger than
the European Championship at this level, so to win means so much. I came out
here with the intention of winning and the weekend has just been fantastic. I’m
so happy.”
Jack’s Maranello Kart team
worked hard during the brief free practice sessions at the start of the weekend
to set-up the kart for the Italian track. Fifth fastest time in qualifying was
good enough to give him pole position for his group.
Once racing got underway,
Harvey showed his rivals he meant business
by taking victory in all four of his heats, giving him pole for the pre-final.
At the start he lost the lead briefly to his front row rival. However, by the
end of the opening lap he had moved back into the lead and soaked up all the
pressure from the chasing pack to put in a brilliant drive to take victory and
the all important pole for the final.
As the lights went green at
the start of the 15-lap final Jack was able to dive into the lead from the
outside and immediately started to pull out a lead over the rest of the grid. A
faultless drive from the 14-year-old followed and by the halfway point in the
race, he had pulled out a lead of almost six seconds over the chasing pack,
putting him beyond reach and handing him the European Championship
crown.
“The team played it cautiously
at the start of the weekend by sitting out some of the free practice session as
it was wet,” said Jack. “We worked hard though and knew that we had a good kart,
but also noticed that the group that followed the gearbox karts on track
struggled for grip a little, so we were happy with fifth fastest time as we were
first out in qualifying,” he added.
“I had to work hard in a
couple of the heats, but I kept my head down and managed to take victory in all
four of them, having pole for the pre-final and final was important, but it was
also on the outside of the track, so I had to fight my way back across away from
the line both times.”
“In the final I just
concentrated on getting away on the opening lap and just kept pushing as hard as
possible right through the race. At this level, if you ease off, there is
someone there to take the place away from you; so I made sure that I had a gap
and kept up my pace all the way to the flag,” he
said.
Behind him, rivals Tom Grice
and James Thorp battle for second and third place, making it an all-British
podium.
“I said at the Autosport show at the start of
the season that Britain produces the best racing drivers in
the world and this weekend has proved it. The team did such a fantastic job, not
just this weekend, but all season. I’ve picked up some fantastic results this
season and this is just the perfect way to round off my season in the KF3 class,
as European Champion,” he added.
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