With stringent Covid measures in place, Malmesbury’s Louis Harvey competed in round one of the British Karting Championship at Kimbolton International Kart Circuit in Huntingdon this weekend.

Despite a number of setbacks the aspiring racing driver battled fierce competition to cross the line first putting the Klaassen Motorsport driver on the top step of the podium.

Harvey was consistently one of the fastest drivers during Friday practise which continued into Saturday mornings testing.

Feeling positive for timed qualifying Harvey couldn’t find a comfortable position on track and after qualifying 4th was stripped of his fastest lap dropping him to 8th place for heat one.

A fantastic start in heat one saw Harvey fly through the pack and with some precision overtaking by lap two, he had already taken the lead of the race.

He dropped back after exchanging positions to 3rd on lap eight but was back in the lead by lap twelve.

Unfortunately a coming together in one of the tight twisty section of the track on the second to last lap saw Harvey driven over, wrecking his kart and hurting his wrist but he managed to limp the kart home in 13th place.

The team worked hard overnight to fix and straighten the kart ready for Sundays racing but Harvey had to try and get to the front again to gain some much needed points for a good grid position for the pre-final.

Harvey got his head down and by lap six was in the lead of the race.

The next nine laps saw a great battle between Harvey and the no 62 kart of Cole with Harvey settling for second place and taking the much needed points.

Points added and Harvey would start seventh for the pre-final with the results determining the starting position for the main final.

Unfortunately Harvey was blocked early in the race by some slower drivers and by the time he got through the pack two karts had broken away.

He battled hard to close the gap crossing the line next to the leading two karts to take 3rd only 0.09 seconds off the win.

Harvey lined up 3rd for the final and knew that despite the early setbacks he had a good chance of winning.

By lap four Harvey was the middle kart in a nose to tail train with Cole leading, Harvey second and kart 32 Saunders third.

All looking for the win they pushed hard as a group creating a gap to the rest of the field which would allow them to battle it out in the final few laps.

The three drivers didn’t disappoint the crowd with a fantastic display of driving and a good show of sportsmanship all congratulating each other in the pits at the end despite a bit of a tangle between them all on the final lap.

Harvey took the win with Saunders second and Cole third.

All the races from the weekend including the Junior TKM class can be watched here https://youtu.be/wxJusyU0EJ4

Round two is on the 9th – 11th October at Fulbeck Kart circuit in Lincolnshire.