Malmesbury go-kart sensation Louis Harvey came out on top at PFI International.

After last year’s final round of the Superone Series British Karting Championship Louis Harvey returned to PFI International in Grantham determined to stand on the top of the podium and with the thoughts of the commentary still ringing in his ear, he put on a great performance which was rewarded by him taking the chequered flag and the top prize.

After the kind efforts of Dan Bailey Builders on Friday dragging the family caravan out of the snow and onto a road that had been gritted, Louis and family set of to PFI International Kart circuit for a round of their winter series.

PFI will feature on the new 2019 Motorsport UK British Karting Championship so Harvey was keen to get there to fine tune his set up.

Holding the fastest lap for most of timed qualifying Harvey put in two purple sectors in the final lap but was blocked by a back marker which allowed two other drivers to pip him for pole.

Undeterred, Harvey started both heats from third on the grid. In heat one he was quickly into the lead and after swapping positions a few times was back at the front until lap 6 when he made a mistake which allowed two chasing karts to get past and he crossed the line in 3rd.

Heat two and again he was quickly into the lead and being chased down the No5 Connor Kearney his long term karting friend so the pressure was really on. Kearney took the lead and Harvey had to settle for 2nd place over the line.

This meant when the points were added up that Harvey and Kearney were on the front row of the grid. Two great friends off track but possibly the biggest rivals in 2019 on track as both are among the top contenders for winning the British Karting Championship this year.

As the lights went green on the rolling start there was a lot of jostling for position as the headed down under the bridge section with Kearney eventually taking the lead as they passed back over the top of the bridge and back into sight. Harvey challenging hard with a great move around the bridge section and was into the lead and just needed to stay there for the win.

As Harvey and Kearney entered the bridge section on lap 9 Kearney went for the move but Harvey held the racing line to maintain the lead and eventually taking the chequered flag.

This put the Klaassen Motorsport ARC Shadow Kart on top of the podium for the second win of the year and Harvey's second podium visit in his first two races of 2019.

David Klaassen said “We are certainly showing that the new ARC chassis is going into 2019 as it finished 2018 as a front runner."