Finlay Lines is British Open Champion in 2024
Finlay Lines put in a commanding performance to claim victory in the British Open Karting Championship.
Competing against 46 other drivers in the MiniMax 950 class, the Synergy driver set out his intentions early as he claimed pole position in Qualifying on Saturday. Claiming the lap record at the same time.
With three heats taking place on the same day, drivers were only required to take part in two of them. Drawn for heats two and three, the Maximum Motorsport driver took the lead at the start of heat two.
Staying ahead as the clock counted down on the 8-minute + 1 lap heat race, Lines was never challenged out front. Setting fastest lap after fastest lap, the Staffordshire-based driver took the heat race win by just under 4 seconds.
Lines started heat three from pole position and took the lead heading into turn one as the rest of the field began to fight over race positions behind him.
Pushing hard to build a gap and setting more fastest laps in the process, Lines took his second heat race win of the day, finishing ahead of second place by a margin of almost 6 seconds.
With the Intermediate Classification rounding up all the results at the end of Saturday, to set the grids for the two Super Heats to take place on Sunday, Lines would start from pole position in Super Heat A thanks to his dominant performance.
Despite the conditions being a little cooler on Sunday at the Northamptonshire venue, the Synergy driver pushed hard as the lights went out and stayed out front. Never challenged during the 10-minute + 1 lap Super Heat race, Lines crossed the line to win by over 6 seconds from his teammate.
With the Final left to go, thanks to his efforts in the Super Heat race, the Maximum Motorsport driver would once more start from pole position. Unchallenged as he took the lead into the first turn, Lines set out once more to build a gap to his rivals chasing behind.
Holding a lead of over 5 seconds, Finlay was unfortunate enough to come across a lapped driver who refused to adhere to the blue flags. This caused further controversy on track, the driver was then black-flagged from the race.
Despite his lead being reduced to just over 2 seconds, the Staffordshire youngster was soon back up to speed and claimed the British Open title to the tune of over 5 seconds.
Lines will continue his preparation for the 2024 Wera Tools British Karting Championships, which will begin at the PF International karting venue in Lincolnshire on 19-21 April.