The British Schools Karting Championship had a treat of a National Final last weekend at
Daytona Milton Keynes as Caterham School won the title by less than a tenth of a second.
The Caterham team of Ben Dillon, Alex Jobson and Ivan May Jones beat last year's champions Altrincham Grammar after they matched Altrincham's finishing places of first, two seconds, a fifth and a sixth place over the six race event. The decider was best lap times and Caterham's was 70.198 to Altrincham's 70.273.
34 teams were in the final and Caterham faced a tough field that included Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver Zubair Hoque and reigning U18 World Champion Matthew Graham.
This year's BSKC had a record 1850 students and 617 teams compete. In the National Final in 2011, Caterham finished 10th and in 2010, 14th. Dillon explained driver continuity was a factor for the team's increased competitiveness this year.
“We knew we could go further and that really helped us this year,” he remarked.
Winning the championship was particularly important since this is Dillon's last year at Caterham. He will now help younger students, who want to follow him and his colleagues: “I'll have something to do with the team [in 2013],” he continued. "BSKC is a very, very good championship."
Dillon aims to compete in the British Universities Karting Championship and is looking for more driving opportunities as he studies journalism. “I'd love to do cars,” he said, “but sponsorship is a challenge.” Euromax is another interest.
The Caterham team will now visit the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking and have a one-on-one session in
GP2 team Arden International's simulator later this year as reward for winning the BSKC title.
by Simon Stiel