Lennox-Lamb proves Top Kart’s top man in Italy

Jordon Lennox-Lamb carried his impressive form from the European Finals qualifying meeting over to the finals themselves, turning heads despite being dogged by a persistent engine problem that significantly hampered his efforts weekend-long.

The Bedford star travelled to Sarno in Italy for the event on the back of a superb warm-up showing in the qualifiers at Essay in France, where he had scored a brace of top six results and set the fastest lap of anyone in race two. Now, up against the crème de la crème of European karting talent in the shape of some 72 drivers from 16 different countries, he once again marked himself out as one to keep an eye on in years to come.

“The first couple of sessions in free practice were really good and we were on the pace,” he related, “but later that day we began to realise we had an engine issue. Because everyone is quite spread out around the track in practice, you don’t really get any opportunity to get near to any other drivers down the straights to notice.

“Unfortunately even after we had discovered it there wasn’t very much we could do about it; the team knew what the problem was but didn’t have the necessary equipment to solve it. On the split times we were two tenths quicker through the infield, but we were losing half a second down the straight.”

It was a hefty blow to his chances – as well as those of fellow Top Kart aces Antonio Giovinazzi and McLaren and Mercedes-Benz Young Driver Support Programme member Oliver Rowland – but it was one from which Jordon incontrovertibly emerged with his reputation very much enhanced. Although he qualified a disappointing 26th due to the engine woes – which left him repeatedly hitting the rev limiter far earlier than should have been the case and eleventh on the starting grid for all three of his heats – he would convert that into top seven finishes in two of them, when his two team-mates were struggling even to make the top 15.

“I was pleased to be the number one in the team over the weekend,” he acknowledged, “and the team was happy with the results I was getting, despite the problems.

“It was really hard for me to persevere knowing people were catching me up at a ridiculous rate at some points on the track. It was non-stop pressure, and Sarno is very much a power circuit. I really had to drive my hardest.”

Lining up 16th on the starting grid for the pre-final, the 15-year-old would unfortunately become an innocent victim of a first corner mêlée that eliminated a number of karts and, although he was able to rejoin, he did so a long way back and took the chequered flag a lowly and frustrated 20th. Jordon would begin the grand final – an achievement in itself given neither Rowland nor Giovanazzi even made it that far – in the same position, but a typically meteoric getaway, something of a Lennox-Lamb trademark, saw him in sixth place heading into the first corner. He takes up the story…

“Unfortunately I knew I was just going to go backwards from there because of the power disadvantage we were up against,” he rued. “I knew there were going to be drivers with much quicker karts than me coming through, so I just had to watch my back really. Then halfway through, going into the really tight complex another driver pushed me out really wide, and it was literally like driving on marbles.”

Eleventh place was the ultimate outcome, having had to fight a rearguard, defensive action race-long. Still, in his maiden appearance in the prestigious event that was a mightily impressive result nonetheless, and one rendered even more praiseworthy given the uphill struggle he had had to wage throughout the weekend.

“I was definitely pleased,” he enthused. “Eleventh wasn’t so bad considering the problems we had. Jack Harvey finished eleventh last year and he won it this time.”

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