Fortec Motorsport's Alex Walker gave his bid for the InterSteps Championship title a well deserved boost at the weekend by scoring three podiums in three races at Brands Hatch, Kent, ensuring the championship is taken down to the wire. The 16-year-old from Oldham, who currently lies 2nd in the championship, came home with two 2nd places and a 3rd in the penultimate meeting of the season, scoring valuable points for his campaign and closing in on the lead for the title.
Starting from P3 in Sunday's Race 1, Walker immediately put himself in the lead on a wet track and controlled the race from the front in the opening stages. However, he slotted himself back into 2nd position as his tyres started to go off but put in a solid drive to pull away from 3rd place and wasn't challenged for the remainder of the race.
Having qualified in 5th for Race 2 on Monday, Walker got off the line well, holding position and keeping up with the leaders before being promoted to P4 when James Peace retired from the race, bringing out the safety car while his stricken car was moved out of harm's way.
As the race got back underway Walker kept pressure on Patryk Szczerbinski for 3rd and made a hard charge round the outside at Druids with a stunning move on the last lap, briefly taking the lead before being pushed down to P2, but still adding vital points next to his name in the championship standings.
In Race 3, Walker started again in P5 and enjoyed a battle with team mate Ed Jones in the first few laps. After getting passed Jones, Walker went on the hunt for P3 and made his move on lap 14, where he stayed before the chequered flag was brought out, being the first of the three Fortec cars to cross the line in all three races.
Alex Walker:"It's been a really good weekend and we definitely needed these points to make sure we take the championship to Croft. It would have been nice to get at least one win but I'm satisfied we did the best we could after not having an ideal qualifying.
"It was tough in all three races and there were a few moments, especially in the second race when we all charged into Druids on the last lap. I got in front of everyone but it just wasn't possible to hold on to the lead. Then in the last race, once I had got into P3, I thought it was best to hold on to that, think of the points and not take any unecessary risks by making a lunge for 2nd.
"We've made solid progress this weekend and, as always, Fortec Motorsport prepared a great car for me, so I'm more motivated than ever to give it everything I've got to push for the title in the last three races."
There's now a four-week gap before the final three races of the season which will take place at Croft, North Yorkshire on the 24th and 25th September.
