Young karting star Harry Webb, from Topcroft, has moved into the lead of the Formula Kart Stars Championship as he bids to follow in Lewis Hamilton's footsteps in clinching the MSA British Cadet crown at the end of the season.

Young karting star Harry Webb, from Topcroft, has moved into the lead of the Formula Kart Stars Championship as he bids to follow in Lewis Hamilton's footsteps in clinching the MSA British Cadet crown at the end of the season.

The 12-year-old triumphed in round five of nine in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed series - the same one that first set the reigning F1 World Champion on the fast track to future glory.

“It's my best result in FKS by miles,” he enthused. “The best bit was being up on the podium afterwards and spraying everyone with water.”

He acknowledges that “it's going to be quite hard” to stay at the top but he will, assuredly, have many more chances to celebrate on the podium again between now and season's end.

“I've done really well at PF in the past,” he said. “I was lying third in Kartmasters before I got binned, and it's a circuit I enjoy.

“I've always been good into the first hairpin too, and am usually able to make up quite a few places there,” he said.

That, indeed, would serve the young ace well for his heat races, in which he grabbed a victory and two runner-up spots to secure a front row starting position for the grand final alongside erstwhile championship leader Josh White, and up against no fewer than 56 rivals of the highest national calibre around in the hotly-fought cadet class field.

“The heats all went really well,” he related. “In one of them I started 20th, and by the end of the first lap I was up to fourth! I like driving in the wet. I enjoy fighting my way up the field like that.

“I was feeling very confident for the final. It was dry by then, but there were still some wet patches and puddles in parts of the track, which made it quite treacherous.

“Josh got in front at the start, and I was aiming to follow him and for the two of us to pull away.

“I got past him quite early, but then I hit a wet patch and the others closed right up.

“There was a lot of pressure after that and Matthew Graham got past, but he then hit a wet patch too. It was more of a battle in the closing stages. On the last lap I got George Russell around the outside at the end of the start/finish straight and went on to win.

“I had never won a Stars meeting before, so it was really good.”