as eye-catching progress continues apace
If anybody had told Luke Whitworth he would be finishing inside the top ten in only the third major meeting of his fledgling karting career, he would very probably have bitten their hand off – but in a sign of the outstanding inroads he is making for one with so little experience under his belt, that is precisely what he has done.
Luke had already exceeded expectations by claiming a brace of top 15 finishes on his debut in the hotly-contested, Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Rowrah in April, and if he acknowledges that certain areas of his racecraft understandably remain a work in progress, that progress is now coming thick-and-fast.
That being the case, the young Rotherham hotshot travelled to Llandow in South Wales for the annual Welsh Championships bidding to continue his impressive learning curve – and perhaps sneak a surprise result into the bargain.
“It was the first time I had ever been to the track, and I found it quite technical, with a lot of bends,” he explained. “I only had three ten-minute practice sessions to try to learn it, and it took me a little while to get used to it. My P1 Racing team-mate knows it well, though, so I followed him round for a few laps and by the last session on Saturday I had got the hang of it. It was a good-sized field, but I was hoping for a top ten finish – I thought that was within reach.”
Out of the 25 Junior Max class contenders, Luke qualified 13th on the opening day – admitting to not having driven at his best – and followed that up with the same spot in his first heat race, as he took the chequered flag less than two seconds outside of the top ten. Unfortunately, the start of day two would not go quite so well.
“Qualifying is an area that I still need to improve on because I tend to try too hard,” acknowledged the 15-year-old Wickersley-based speed demon, “and on the second day I just wasn’t really in the zone properly and I messed it up. I was disappointed to be only 20th, because I had been hoping for a top 15 again.
“Then in the second heat I didn’t make a good start and when another driver tried to overtake me he hit me from behind and pushed me into the wall. That snapped my track rod and I had to come into the pits to retire. I was annoyed about that, because I knew then I’d have to start the pre-final from towards the back of the grid rather than further up.”
That would, indeed, unfortunately be the case, but unbowed and undeterred, Luke got his head down and in both the pre-final and all-important grand final later on, the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil proved to be right in the mix from the word ‘go’, working his way up from 19th to 14th in the former and then from 14th to an excellent eighth in the latter, less than a second shy of sixth and barely two seconds adrift of fourth, and getting the better of a whole host of local specialists – who know the track like the back of their hand – for good measure.
“I made a good start and then just tried to follow people and show them I was there,” he recounted of the pre-final. “I put them under pressure, which caused them to start making mistakes and allowed me to get past. My pace wasn’t too bad in that race either, so all-in-all I was quite pleased.
“I got a good start again in the grand final and was able to pass some drivers straightaway. My mechanic had spoken to me quite a bit before the race about overtaking, which gave me more confidence regarding how late I could go on the brakes – and I didn’t hesitate to go for moves this time.
“I was really pleased with eighth in the end, and hopefully more time in the seat will help to get me even closer to the pace and bring me on further as a driver. It was another good learning weekend and I feel more confident when it comes to overtaking and late-braking – and now I just want to keep on improving.”
