Lando Norris continued to chalk up his impressive results with a fantastic third place in the end of season Industrial Trophy meeting at Parma in Italy at the weekend. The result – in the KF3 category, follows his superb runner-up finish in the Rotax Mini-max class of the MSA Super One British Championship the previous weekend.

The Glastonbury based ADD Motorsports racer is using the one-off events as a toe-in-the-water exercise to get used to the KF3 class he could step up into next season. At his first Italian event at the start of October the Millfield school pupil took an outstanding second place in the ‘B’-final, putting his name firmly into the minds of the rest of the European KF3 contingent.

This weekend he started by setting a time just outside the top ten in qualifying, only half a second away from pole position. In his first heat he got away well but an incident meant that he dropped to the rear of the field and was unable to make up ground.

In the second heat he managed to stay out of trouble and crossed the line in eighth place. His results meant that he would start from 23rd on the grid for the Pre-final. In the first two laps Lando managed to move up to 16th place and by the half-way point he was up to 11th. On lap 16 he managed to move into ninth place and on the final lap he took eighth place just before taking the chequered flag.

His pre-final result was his starting position for the main final and from eighth he was in with a chance of another podium finished. As the lights went out Lando immediately moved up to seventh before taking one more position three laps later.

He was caught up in the four kart battle for the final podium position and Lando kept himself glued to the rear of the fight for the remainder of the 20-lap race. On the final lap he made a fantastic move and leapt from sixth to third, taking his first major podium result in Europe in the process.

Lando was understandably pleased to have another strong result against much more experienced European opposition and to come away with some new silverware.

“It’s been another really great weekend to be honest,” he said. “I set some really competitive times in free-practice and thought that it could be a strong weekend. It all went a bit wrong in the first heat but I got everything hooked up for the rest of the races, especially at the end of the main final,” he added.

The result shows how much Lando has learned in his first full British season, becoming UK Champion in the Formula Kart Stars series and finally ending the year as runner-up in the MSA Super One Championship last weekend.

“It’s been a fantastic season for me, the highlight is definitely winning the FKS title,” he said. “It was really tight in the Super One Series right up to the final weekend. I only missed out by nine points in the end. I said at the start of the year that I would use every meeting to learn and try to be as fast as I could and win races if I got the chance.”

“I started the season winning races and kept winning all year, so I can’t complain!” He smiled. “The races in Italy have been eye-opening so far. More grip, more speed and the teams and organisation are different too. I’d definitely like to race at this level some more,” he added.