Stirling on top in Belgian bun-fight

Carl Stirling’s superb season continued in Belgium last weekend (9/10 August) with a 5th place on Saturday, followed by a crushing victory on Sunday.

The 15-year old was competing in the 6th and 7th rounds of the Stars of Tomorrow Championship at Genk, just an hour from Brussels.

On Saturday, Carl - the current British Open Champion in the junior KF3 class - qualified on pole position for the first of the meeting’s two points scoring finals, with a brace of heat wins.

After getting the jump on his rivals at the start, he initially led - but a developing problem with his engine saw him drop back to 6th place. Finding that he could still run at the pace of the battling leaders, despite his motor woes, Carl was able to fight his back past fellow front-row starter, Sam Snell to take 5th place at the chequered flag.

Having raced in warm sunshine all day on Saturday - Sunday couldn’t have been more different; “It chucked it down all day” Carl said. With the wet conditions making the lap-times 18 seconds slower than the previous day’s in the dry, Timed Qualifying became very tricky. Carl succeeded in qualifying 4th place, with his younger brother Adam just behind in 5th.

A 5th and 3rd in his two heats gave Carl third place on the grid for the final. Unfortunately 13-year old Adam fared less well, qualifying midfield in 17th place. He explained why; “In my second heat, Carl ran me wide and I lost places. He apologised later though! But I was then hit by the same driver who drove me off the circuit in the first race.”

The rain stopped in time for the final, but left a greasy surface that caught out the unwary. A blistering start saw Carl take an early lead, but a mistake saw him lose it, before quickly regaining it. Englishman Jake Dennis fought back and snatched the lead, but pressure from Carl saw him drop down to 4th. Whilst Dennis fought his way back past Adam and Alexander Albon, Carl seized the initiative and opened a race-winning 7-second lead – huge in karting terms. “I worked really hard for that”, he said afterwards. “I’m now 2nd in the Championship (after starting the weekend in 4th place overall) and I’m very happy. It’s all coming together at the right time.”

Adam was similarly pleased with his best performance yet in his first season of top-flight KF3 racing - and has now moved into the top ten in the points table. He said, “I was running in 2nd place but my engine developed a problem mid way through the race. I couldn’t pull maximum revs on the straights and dropped to 4th – which I guess, wasn’t too bad in the end but I had been game-on for a podium.”

Next weekend (16/17 August) sees the boys return to British Super 1 series duties at Larkhall in Scotland, where they’ll be joined by big brother, 16-year old Craig - who competes in the senior KF2 class.

Carl currently leads the Super 1 KF3 Championship and says, “I’m quick at Larkhall and my win at Genk was a big confidence booster, I’m quietly confident”.

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