I love racing at TeamSport Southampton. It’s one of my favourite tracks. But this week… wow. It was probably one of my most frustrating races ever.

I actually had a really good start to the night. I qualified P1 with a 35.3. It’s not my fastest lap ever, but it was good enough to put me on pole, so I was feeling pretty confident heading into the final.

We had a rolling start and I was leading the pack. But straight away, I knew something wasn’t right. My kart just didn’t feel fast. It felt flat on the straights and I was having to push super hard just to stay ahead. I didn’t know my lap times during the race, but afterwards we found out my average was 37.5 — that’s over 2 seconds slower than my qualifying pace! Even slower than some of the karts that started at the back 😩

I started to realise something was wrong when the cadet behind me went around the outside of me on a corner. Around the OUTSIDE! That’s when I knew I was in trouble.

From that moment on, it was basically a full race of defence mode. Blocking, covering the inside, trying to stay calm and not make mistakes. I fought as hard as I could and managed to hang on to P3 for a podium.

I can’t complain too much because I’ve had loads of success at Southampton before… but I think it’s fair to say Kart 40 needs to be retired 😂

Still, a podium is a podium. And I’ll be back next week — ready to go again and hopefully with a faster kart! 🏎️🔥