This was Jack’s first race in the Benchmark awning and Luke’s second.

With great results throughout the heats, the pair placed themselves in 4th for Luke and 8th for Jack, in the final.

The weather was dramtically changing for the final and the team decided to change its stratergy for the race. There was very slight rain in the air but it was not settling as the grid lined up. A team decision to run on wet tyres was made and both karts were taken to the grid running these on a dry set up. Panic ensued as others realised what we had done and frantically tried to change wheels before the rolling lap with only 2 others managing it in time.

At the start, Luke managed to climb straight into 2nd place, as the strength of the rain had increased and Jack managed to climb up to 6th. Jack got tangled with drivers struggling for grip and ended up taking avoiding action, dropping down the field to last place, but after fully committing himself,  he soon made his way back up to 7th place by the final lap, realising the race was nearly over, Jack pushed even harder, passing 3 karts in the last half of the lap which put him into 4th place and onto the podium.  A well deserved podium position and a very mature drive from the 8 year old.

Luke kept it together for the remainder of the race and dropped a position on lap 8 to another driver who managed to change to wets, again a very mature drive with no incidents meant Luke made the podium for a second time within the team.

Well done to both boys and great team work from all involved.

Benchmark Motorsport is a kart racing team aimed at helping new drivers into the sport and also helping drivers already racing to achieve their goals. We can help with kart set up, building on drivers strengths and weaknesses, better lap times and drivers race craft.

Throughout the rest of 2011, we aim to visit various circuits throughout the UK, with an extensive test program over the winter months aimed at covering the circuits being used in the Super 1 British Championships in 2012. On top of this we will be covering local race venues for both testing and race weekends.

Please feel free to peruse our website looking at the services we offer and our proposed calender for the coming 4 months.

We have team places available, so should you wish to join us on any of the dates please do not hesitate to contact us.

We are offering a half price initial test day, so why not pick a date and come down to see what we can offer you?

This was Luke’s first race within the team and neither disappointed. With Luke a full 3/10ths of a second quicker than anyone else in qualifying,  he laid down his marker for the day.

Luke gained great positions in the heats, winning the first one. Even after getting tangled up in incidents in the next heats he placed 5th and 4th. In heat 2 he even managed to work his way up to fifth place with a flat rear after the side wall was ripped out.

Luke started the final in 3rd place and meant business from the start jumping straight into second on the first lap. A vigorous battle ensued for first place and Luke managed to take this on lap 3 which he held under immense pressure until lap 10, where an incident sent him and the 2nd place driver into the tyre wall at speed. The red flag brought an immediate stop to the race and the results were taken from lap 9.

A mature drive from Luke and he showed his dominence and will to succeed. We congratulate him on his first win within the team.