Back to Back wins for Rye Student
Barlow wins legion of new fans after storming to twin victories in Wales.
Just a week after scoring his first British Super 1 championship podium with new team Strawberry Racing, Pett’s Jack Barlow stunned his rivals with back-to-back victories in the 5th and 6th rounds of the Formula Kart Stars series at Glan Y Gors last weekend (3/4 July).
The 15-year old opened his account on Saturday with a brace of wins in the preliminary heats, securing pole for the day’s main final.
“Shortly after the start I allowed the 2nd-placed driver through and followed him until the last lap. He looked over his shoulder at the moment I lunged him and pulled off the move. He attacked at the very last corner, but I defended and shut the door. It was close though, we were separated by just two one hundredths of a second.”
Jack’s team boss, Warwick Ringham was full of praise for his new signing: “Before the racing, I’d had a chat with him about overtaking. I told him to get in late and hard. In the races he was going in really hard, to the point where we were all going ‘Woah, what’re you doing!’ He did everything I asked and more. He was fantastic.”
Saturday’s hot, dry and sunny conditions gave way to rain on Sunday. Starting from 6th on the grid for his first heat, the Rye College student made short work of clearing the karts ahead of him and delivered an assured drive in the tricky conditions to win comfortably.
He was made to work harder in the second race when a startline crash dropped him down the order and into the midfield. This prompted a cool-headed fight back, but some further confident overtaking saw him triumph again.
From pole position, Barlow led the 26-strong field into the first corner at the start of the main final.
“I got a good start and for the first few laps I was pulling away with a group of four other drivers,” Jack explained. “I was pushing a bit too hard and dropped a wheel off the track. I fell to 4th but worked my way up to 2nd. I then followed, caught and passed the leader with ten laps to go, and made sure that I didn’t make any more mistakes.”
Again, Ringham hailed the burgeoning talent of the young star. “Jack is a very intelligent driver. You can see him thinking about what he should be doing with the positioning of his kart on the track and looking to see where he is faster on particular parts of the circuit than his rivals. He’s developing an excellent racing brain and his driving is just getting better and better.”
As the other JB – Jenson Button, whom Jack met several times last year – bids for glory in this weekend’s (11 July) British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Jack will be in Austria preparing for the penultimate round of the Euro Max Challenge, at the Speedworld track near Vienna (14-18 July).
“I just want to go to Austria and win another podium,” Jack says. “That would make it three from three and to do it in separate series would be pretty special. I can win Formula Kart Stars now and my confidence is very good because I have a great team around me and the best equipment. The rest is down to me…”
The event gets underway on Wednesday (14 July) with free practice. Timed qualifying will take place on Friday before the heats on Saturday and Sunday’s all important finals.
You can follow Jack’s fortunes by going to www.rgmmc.com and clicking on the ‘RGMMC Live Timing’ button.