12 year old Lando Norris is now the 2012 Formula Kart Stars Rotax Mini Max Champion following the final FKS event at Wilton Mill in Northamptonshire this weekend. The Glastonbury driver was provisional winner after the last round in August and the dropped scores system meant that he didn’t need to race in the category to be crowned. Instead he elected to make another appearance in Junior Max. 

In warm-up Lando was off the pace by four tenths of a second and in a closely fought category managed to qualify eighth. In his first heat, Lando made it up to sixth but dropped back to eighth for the flag. Determined to do better he tried again in heat two, starting in the same eighth slot. He got through the first corner cleanly in sixth but was tapped back to seventh, retaliated and climbed up to fourth but ultimately finishing in sixth.

For the final Lando was in eighth alongside his brother Oli and ADD Motorsports team-mate. After a good start, Landowas in seventh but finding it difficult to defend. Over the next six laps he managed to overtake drivers to lie in third untilOli overtook, putting Lando in fourth which he held to the flag.

Lando Norris: “Today was really hard. There are a lot of hard drivers so you have to be as hard as you can. I got hit in the first heat and was down to about eleventh and tried to come back but it’s hard when the times are so close. Little mistakes cost a lot of time. I need to improve as well as the kart. I finished eighth in that one but I could do better. The kart was better in heat two but I can find more time in me. I got a good start in the final and there was a battle between me, Josh [White] and Oli but I was struggling to keep up with them. Junior Max is more physical – harder on the arms – and you have to be more focussed as it’s a lot faster. The end result was good. Being Mini Max Champin is really good. We haven’t won a championship in my three years in Cadets so to win Mini Max in my first year with a round to go is really good.”