Norris finishes season with a win, third place overall and the Rookie Cup

Lando Norris finished the season in the only way he knows how – with a lightning-quick performance and a brilliant win.

The ADD Motorsports driver was ecstatic to take the honours in the last race of the last round of the Ginetta Junior Championship.

The performance helped him to third place overall and saw him pick up the Rookie Cup for the highest placed debutant.

And after announcing he would be making his single seater racing debut in MSA Formula next season, it’s not difficult to see why many believe this is only the beginning of what promises to be a very exciting career.

The 14-year-old said: “It was brilliant to finish the season with a win - and to take the Rookie Cup and third place overall in my first season in Ginetta was really good.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a big learning curve but a great year.”

Lando ended up fifth and first in the practice sessions, despite the rain and feeling as though he was taking it a little bit easier as he got used to the conditions and track.

His pace was brilliant in qualifying when he got in two great laps. The fastest was a second clear of the nearest driver to him and he was happy to get pole for both races.

However, Race One didn’t go according to plan. With the tyres not being warmed up properly, the driver’s front brakes locked early on, leaving him spinning off the track.

He got back on in last place and did well to get back up to 9th by the end of the race.

He said: “It was my mistake and it probably cost me the win. I should have taken it a lot easier. There were a lot of red flags and so only three proper laps, so if I’d taken it easier, I would have been up there.”

Race Two was certainly better. He fell back to fourth due to a difficult start on some oil left on the track from a previous race, but was soon back into second with a gap to first and to third.

Lap by lap he closed the gap up, with the leader forced to defend.

However, Lando made an audacious move to get in front, overtaking on the least obvious corner and taking him by surprise.

Despite a slight mistake later on, there was no looking back and he finished with another brilliant win in a series he has taken by storm.

The third place finish overall saw the Glastonbury racer cement his ever-growing reputation as one of the most promising young drivers on the scene and saw him seamlessly make the step up from kart to cars.

Just a few weeks ago he took the title at the CIK-FIA KF World Championships – when he made history as the youngest karting World Championship winner.

Now he leaves both Ginetta and karts behind to make his single-seater racing debut next season. He is the first driver to commit to the series as a result of the UK single seater age limit being lowered for next year.

His management team ADD Motorsports are in the process of exploring different teams for him to compete in it with.

He added: “It was great winning my last race in Ginetta, all my friends and family were there to watch which made it more special.

“I just want to thanks my family and team for supporting me so well again this season, they’ve been brilliant.

I’m really looking forward to trying something new again next season. It’s a whole new area again, but it’s really exciting.

“Hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”


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