YOUNG Malmesbury racer Louis Harvey sits third in the MotorsportUK British Karting Championship after the first two rounds.

Harvey, 14, struggled to find the pace he had shown in his pre-championship testing in his Klaassen Motorsport ARC chassis, while mixed weather conditions also hampered his progress at Trent Valley.

The timed qualifying session was split into two groups, with Harvey placing fifth in the first groups before being bumped down to 11th place after the second group’s times were added.

After finishing 16th in the first heat, Harvey improved to fifth in the second heat and would therefore start from 12th on the grid for the first final.

The Malmesbury racer produced a stunning performance to climb up to second by lap 12, and he remained on the podium by the time the chequered flag fell, finishing third.

Starting from that position for the second final, Harvey had taken the lead by lap three, however, power issues saw him drop to fourth when the race was red flagged due to an accident.

After the restart, Harvey battled on before being forced off the track on Lap 14, although he was back up to eighth by the finish.

With the points from the two finals added up, Harvey sits third in the championships with another 10 rounds still to go – the next two taking place at Rissington on May 18-19.