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Having announced last month that it is to run a complementary new championship in Europe, Britain’s leading karting series BRDC Stars of Tomorrow has opened entries for CIK-FIA Stars International – with demand already threatening to take off.

The new championship will take in three meetings in its inaugural campaign in 2009, beginning with PF International from 21-24 May, Genk in Belgium from 20-23 August and Angerville in mid-France from 8-11 October.

The series will cater to five classes – Junior Max, Senior Max, KF1, KF2 and KF3 – and is open to all drivers in possession of an international licence. What’s more, Stars International has also been granted full CIK-FIA approval, and builds upon Stars of Tomorrow’s hugely popular annual cross-Channel excursion to Genk, which began three years ago and has been such a success that it has been included as an overseas trip on the calendar ever since.

Stars of Tomorrow and its former guise of McLaren-Mercedes Champions of the Future have helped to launch the careers of no fewer than nine McLaren/Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award winners, including such luminaries as ex-Super Aguri Formula 1 star Anthony Davidson and former DTM Champion and McLaren-Mercedes test-driver Gary Paffett – as well as that of a certain Lewis Hamilton.

Entries for the new championship – targeted predominantly at UK-based drivers, though more than happy to welcome European competitors too – opened at the Autosport International show in Birmingham earlier this month, and Stars’ director Carolynn Hoy admitted that already there has been a great deal of interest.

“We’ve had to do two more print runs of entry forms,” she revealed, “and there were 50 to begin with! We’re certainly expecting a lot of entries.

“It’s extremely important to us to have secured full CIK-FIA backing, as it raises the championship’s profile even further. It’s a real shot in the arm for BRDC Stars of Tomorrow and we are very excited about it.

“Stars International will give British drivers a chance to race abroad whilst still under our umbrella, and we are going to try and encourage some European drivers to come along too.

“The British Racing Drivers’ Club is hoping to discover future F1 drivers, Stars has always been about trying to support and encourage young British karters’ careers, and we think this will be very exciting for them.”

For more information on CIK-FIA Stars International or details on how to enter, please visit www.brdcstars.com.

Photo by Chris Walker