James Singleton admitted that he had been ‘hoping for the top ten’ in the third round of the hotly-contested 2010 Euro Max Challenge at Wackersdorf in Germany following a torrid and luckless run on home turf of late – but by dint of an inspired performance in conditions that were anything but easy, the highly-rated young North Wales speed demon came away again with rather better than just that.

James headed to Germany encouraged by a superb rostrum finish in the Euro Max Winter Cup at Campillos in Spain and an incredible charge through the field from a lowly 44th into seventh place in the opening round of the campaign at Salbris in France. Equally, however, that enthusiasm was tempered by the knowledge that despite having proven rapid indeed in the British Super 1 Series – an outstanding pole position in the PF International curtain-raiser and fifth on the grid last time out at Whilton Mill are ample testament to that – power difficulties and sheer ill-fortune had repeatedly stymied his efforts to notch up a solid result.

“We’ve had so many problems with the engine recently that we didn’t really know how competitive we would be going into the weekend,” the Conwy hotshot candidly acknowledged. “The track is awesome, though! It’s really technical and you have to be inch-perfect into every corner; if you get dust onto your tyres, it can cost you up to half a second a lap for three laps.

“It’s crucial to get the corners right, and it took us probably two sessions to try and figure out the lines. Then it turned wet and it was the same thing all over again... The track was really slippery in the wet, with karts going off everywhere – especially at the hairpins. People were just burying it into the tyres.

“The conditions were really unpredictable. As soon as we changed the set-up for the dry it would rain, and vice-versa; it was on-and-off constantly, which was a bit of a nightmare, especially with such short periods of time to make alterations in-between races – it was a constant panic to try to get the kart ready all the time!”

Fast in practice, the Penmaenmawr-based star went on to qualify an excellent fourth amongst the 43-strong Junior Max class field, top Brit and just a tenth off the fastest time outright, though he mused that it could potentially even have been pole but for having had to overtake another kart on his quickest effort.

That left him to start each of his three heat races from P2. In the first of them James triumphed by barely a gnat’s whisker, following a fraught and frantic scrap over the top spot with the four leading drivers blanketed by a scant half a second; it was a similar story in heat two in which he finished a close third, artfully staving off the advances of the reigning world champion along the way despite grappling with handling and grip issues; and in heat three, the Coles Racing ace made a break for it at just the right moment with two laps to go to leave his pursuers duelling in his wake and prevail by a little over two seconds, thereby securing second spot in the intermediate rankings and the same position on the pre-final starting grid.

“If you weren’t in the top three or four, there was no chance of getting to the front because the leading group always pulled away,” he recounted of the heats. “Being in the tow around Wackersdorf is crucial, but that also makes it quite hard to break away from people. I was only able to get a gap at the end of the first heat because the two drivers behind me started battling, but as soon as they stopped that and worked with each other they caught me straightaway. I really had to defend coming off the last corner because they were right on my bumper...

“Still, two wins in the heats left us feeling pretty confident for the finals if it stayed dry. I was looking forward to them, but when I woke up on Sunday and saw it was raining my heart sank, because we hadn’t been too quick in the wet during practice. After a bad start in the pre-final I came back through and was catching the leader, but as soon as I caught him there was contact into the hairpin and I came off worse and dropped down the order. I fought back through to fourth in the end, but I was still a little frustrated about what had happened.

“Going into the grand final we were confident because we knew then that we were fast in the wet after the adjustments we had made to the kart for the pre-final, and it was a lot wetter as well because the rain had turned torrential in-between the two races. I pushed the pole-sitter over the line at the start and got into second. I couldn’t quite get the power down early enough coming off the corners, though, and after about five laps he was able to break the tow and get away.

“The conditions were really difficult, with karts aquaplaning all over the place, and that made it really tense as I knew I had to be really early onto the brakes into the corners – if I had overshot just one of them, that would have been it. The sun was shining onto the track as well, and because a dry line was developing it was starting to rip the tyres up. It was really slippery, and towards the end I knew the driver behind me wasn’t that far back, so it was crucial not to make a mistake. The pressure was definitely on.”

It was pressure with which James coped admirably, as he hung on beautifully by just over a second-and-a-half to clinch the runner-up spoils at the end of a magnificent showing, ahead of both the reigning British and World Champions for the second time this season to-boot. An injection of confidence just when he needed it the most, the outcome has vaulted the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil into fourth in the title standings on dropped scores – and now with a very clear objective.

“I was really pleased with second place,” he enthused in conclusion. “I would never have believed I’d end up there before the weekend. I had been hoping for the top ten – I certainly never expected to be on the podium, so it was a pretty awesome result! Now I want to stay consistently in the top five every time, to finish the season inside the top three overall and get through to the World Finals – and after this weekend, I think we can do it!”

James is seeking sponsors to help support him in 2010, and if you are interested in backing North Wales’ brightest young F1 hope, please contact his father Mark on 07795 297350 or at: gwyneddforklifts@ukf.net