on belated return to Wigan with finest result to-dateThe last time Luke Whitworth had been due to race at Three Sisters near Wigan, the rapidly-improving young Rotherham karting star was scuppered by a badly-broken arm sustained in a brutal accident late last summer, just as his momentum was truly beginning to build during his rookie year in the sport – but he has now belatedly returned and swiftly demonstrated that his acceleration through the ranks remains firmly on-track, by notching up the best result of his burgeoning career to-date.
Both British karting championships – the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) and the equally fiercely-fought Super 1 Series – will visit the ultra-fast Three Sisters during the course of 2011. That made a pre-season warm-up a necessity – particularly for Luke, who had not competed there for over a year.
“We’ve usually been quick at Wigan, so I was looking forward to going back and feeling fairly confident, too,” related the Wickersley-based hotshot. “The last time I had been round the long circuit layout at Three Sisters was when I had just come off my novice plates, so I wasn’t all that familiar with the track – but we quickly found a good set-up and it didn’t take too long to dial myself back into it again.
“We were able to participate in Friday practice, which helped a lot – there was a quick local driver there to measure ourselves against, and by the end of the day we were only a couple of tenths away from him. That was encouraging, especially having not been there for so long, and it boosted my confidence quite a bit for the racing.”
Overnight rain left the abrasive track surface sodden for Luke’s opening heat, before it dried out for heat two and then the heavens opened again ahead of heat three, rendering the situation challenging indeed. What’s more, Three Sisters is a fearsome circuit in the wet, and notoriously slippery and treacherous off-line – but still, the capricious conditions represented a decent opportunity to get used to it come rain and shine.
Out of the 19 Junior Rotax drivers present – some of them Super 1 front-runners – the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil placed third, fifth and 11th in the heats to earn a starting spot of sixth for the all-important final, albeit on the unfavourable outside line.
“In heats two and three, we had come through the field from quite a long way down the grid, so we knew we were fast enough,” he mused, “and I was starting a lot further forward this time, too. Being on the outside line made things a bit trickier at the start, though, especially with it being such a fast first corner – and that was the only part of the track that was still wet in the final, so it was quite slippery. I just had to put my kart where I wanted it to be and not worry about where anyone else was, and I managed to get across to the inside and moved up to third.
“Wigan is a hard track to drive, and with it being so fast as well, there aren’t many overtaking opportunities around the lap. The best chance is into the first corner, but as that was wet, it made things extra-tough – if you got it wrong there, it put you off-line, your tyres got wet and you lost time and positions. That happened to me at one stage and I dropped down to sixth, but I fought my way back through again and ended up second.
“I had to take quite a risk on the last lap to get it, though; I was third starting the lap, and I went for a late move from quite a long way back going into the first corner. The other driver was already turning in as I dived up the inside, but fortunately it all worked out well..!”
That it did, and in a supremely close finish in which the top four were blanketed by barely a second, Luke was made to work hard indeed for the runner-up spoils and the trophy that accompanied them. Acknowledging that he still needs to focus on his consistency at Wigan, a few more planned outings there ahead of the national hostilities should take care of that – but for the time being, the 16-year-old is happy simply to toast the best result of his fledgling career in the sport. And there is, after all, only one position higher than second left to aim for...
“When it comes to the national meetings at Wigan, I’ll feel more confident and more prepared now,” he concluded. “I’m improving every time I go out – and this kind of result just shows what I can do.”
