Lichfield youngster Finlay Lines straight on pace at Trent Valley

The Lichfield-based racer made his debut for the Northamptonshire-based Dan Holland Racing team, where he is competing this year in the Rotax Mini Max Karting class.

The 11-year-old, the son of Maximum Motorpsorts and Maximum Networks CEO driver Stewart Lines, completed 2022 in the Honda Cadet category of the Mortorsport UK British Karting Championships before moving up a class at the start of 2023.

To set the grids for the two heat races on Sunday, Finlay took part in the single qualifying session featuring all 34 drivers in the event. Despite being held up by another driver during the session, he qualified in eighth place on the starting grid for both heats.

In heat one he was quickly on the pace from the start of the session, where he moved up from his starting position on the grid and would go on to finish the session in fourth position. The second heat saw him go one better by finishing third behind team-mates Cole Denholm and Jacob Ashcroft.

With the combined scores from his two heat race performances placing him in third position in the Intermediate Classification, it meant he would start in third place on the grid for the final. In the final, Finlay continued his front-running pace as he stayed with the leaders throughout and went on to claim third place at the chequered flag, finishing three-tenths of a second behind his team-mates.

He also set the fastest race lap of the weekend with a time of one minute 2.45 seconds.

A spokesman for Finlay’s team said they were pleased with his performances since moving up for this year.

They also thanked Dan Holland Racing and Neil Riddiford from IZone Performance for his mentoring and support.