MALMESBURY racer Louis Harvey finished third in the 2019 Motorsport UK British Karting Championships after a dramatic final weekend at Whilton Mill.

Suffering clutch problems in the Championships’ final races, Harvey battled through mechanical gremlins to secure two top-five finishes and book his place as Great Britain’s number three seeded junior driver.

The points separating the top-10 drivers going into the final round were so small, it meant that none of their positions were safe and every driver had to work hard to ensure they didn’t drop out of the seeded places.

A few laps into timed qualification, things were not looking good for the Malmesbury youngster as he was caught in a group of battling drivers and was unable to put in a hot lap.

The 15-year-old dropped back and, on the last lap, stormed around to secure pole position thanks to his fastest lap.

Harvey would start from pole for both heats, and heat one saw a fantastic battle at the front for the entire race with Harvey taking the win.

The youngster led heat two until tangling with another kart on lap six which dropped him down to seventh.

He worked hard to recover and cross the line in fourth, but was given a five-second penalty for the earlier incident which dropped him to sixth place.

With the points from the heats added up, Harvey would start on the front row for the first of the championship finals.

After a slow start, it was clear there was a problem. Harvey continued to drop back and by lap six, the 15-year-old was down to seventh.

A slipping clutch had caused a significant loss of power, and Harvey had to dig deep to finish fifth.

With the clutch checked ready for final two, Harvey was hopeful for a podium finish, but luck was not on his side.

After the first few laps, it was clear the clutch issues were not fully resolved, and Harvey was again struggling for pace.

Harvey managed to hold onto third until lap 11, but finally finished in fourth.

Harvey, although disappointed to not make the podium in the final rounds, knew he had done enough to secure his podium position for the overall championship.

The Malmesbury boy finished third Junior TKM driver in the 2019 Motorsport UK British Karting Championship.