Singleton keeps himself on-track for the big prize in Austrian adventure

James Singleton might have endured mixed fortunes in the third round of the hotly-contested 2010 Euro Max Challenge at Bruck in Austria, but a brilliant performance just when he needed it the most has kept the highly-rated young North Wales star firmly in with a shout of progressing on to one of the most prestigious meetings on the international karting calendar.

James headed into the weekend ready to pit himself against the very crème de la crème of Junior Rotax class talent on the European stage – and he would prove to be on the leading pace and amongst the very front-running contenders right from the word ‘go’.

“We approached Bruck quite confidently,” revealed the Conwy-based hotshot. “The first time I saw the track was in practice, and I really enjoyed it – I think it suited my driving style well. It was difficult to learn, though, because some of the corners are fast and flowing and others are tight and really bumpy, which slows the kart down a lot. You really need to get the lines absolutely right, because it’s easy to come off there – but it only took us about three sessions to get up-to-speed.

“We changed an axle before qualifying, but unfortunately with the track getting hotter it didn’t pay off. The kart was digging in and just didn’t feel as lively, which left us down in tenth. That was a shame, because in the last practice session before qualifying we had been the quickest of anyone and looking really good, so I think we could have been in the top three but for that – and maybe even fought for pole. Still, it was worth trying that axle because we hadn’t tested it before and we knew where we were after that.”

Indeed, tenth spot out of the 47 entrants – barely four tenths of a second shy of the outright benchmark – was nothing to be ashamed of, and still feeling optimistic, James converted P6 on the starting grid into third and fourth place finishes in two of his three heat races, demonstrating excellent raw pace and eye-catching racecraft along the way.

Unfortunately, an accident not of his own making at the start of his other heat left the Penmaenmawr speed demon 14th in the intermediate rankings, though setting the fastest time again in the Sunday morning warm-up was a timely lift – with the cooler temperatures compared to the previous day better suiting the British contingent, who are less used to such balmy climes!

“We had a choice of putting our new tyres on for the pre-final or saving them for the final itself,” James went on, “and we chose to use them in the pre-final to try and get up the field quicker and score some good points. We’d already had good finishes in the finals in the previous two rounds, so most of all we needed a good pre-final this time. We were hoping for the top five, but from 14th we knew that was going to be tough.

“I made a good start and came out of the first corner in tenth, and after that I just kept the momentum going. It’s very difficult to overtake at Bruck, with so few passing opportunities meaning the pressure is on to get it right each time you make a move – because if you don’t get by successfully on one lap, you might have to wait another whole lap before you get the chance again.

“I kept going forwards each lap until I was fifth, though, and then near the end fourth place was three or four kart-lengths in front of me – and I knew I had to beat him for the extra points. Fortunately, my kart came on at just the right time and I caught and passed him on the penultimate lap and was then just able to pull away. We were over-the-moon to get fourth, and knew afterwards that the hardest part of the weekend was out of the way, so I wasn’t overly stressed going into the final.”

Indeed, with the regulations stating that from the four meetings, each competitor must drop one final and one pre-final from their results sheet come season’s end, P4 meant James could strike off the 19th place he had grittily salvaged from all the way down in 44th in the intermediate rankings in the Salbris curtain-raiser in France – and complemented the similar fourth position he had achieved in round two at Wackersdorf in Germany.

In the final, an early coming-together – when the 14-year-old went for an overtaking move on the driver ahead only to find the door slammed shut in his face – sent him off the track and left him a lap down, with little real hope of any great improvement from there. To his immense credit, however, the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil never let himself get demoralised or demotivated, and once more evinced a turn-of-speed on a par with the leaders – ably going to show what might have been...

“That kind of situation is very disappointing, because you have to just run round on your own at the back when you know you’ve got the pace to be up at the front,” he mused, “but we kept on fighting to the finish to pick up a few points so that if anything does go drastically wrong at Genk, at least we will have that – and we managed to come past a few people along the way, so it wasn’t all bad. We can still do it.”

Genk is the scene of the fourth and final Euromax outing in early September, where all will be decided, and the demanding Belgian circuit is something of a home-from-home for James, having competed there twice before in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars Championship.

The top three in the points table come the end of the weekend will progress on to do battle in the high-profile Rotax Grand Finals at La Conca in Italy in November, and with his brace of fourth places in the pre-finals to-date and an inspired second position and a seventh from the finals, the Coles Racing ace will enter the meeting sitting   seventh overall and third on dropped scores – and positive about his prospects.

“I’m going to train hard and go and do some testing out there, because I really want to win,” he concluded. “We want that ticket to the Grand Finals! I know I’m quick at Genk, and it’s a drivers’ track that’s quite tight and technical and tough on braking, which is a challenge I enjoy. Going into the corners, you really need to brake hard, rather than the emphasis being on exit speed – and if you don’t get that right, you can lose as much as half a second a lap. I want to win there, but I have the championship in-mind too, so points will be very important.”

An appearance in the Rotax Grand Finals could just be a significant stepping-stone in his ever-burgeoning career and a major addition to his CV – and as a postscript, it would be wise to remember that the last time James Singleton raced at Genk, he won.

James is seeking sponsors to help support him in 2010; 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