On the evidence from the last few days it seems likely that David could be leaving the karting ranks, in search of the next step on the racing ladder in Formula Palmer Audi (FPA).
After having won in every class of karting he has competed in, both in the UK and abroad, the AVAGO indoor kart centre backed driver took part in a test session in the single-seater FPA, where he drove the current championship car of Emma Selway.
With a target time set by one of the regular FPA drivers, David did a few laps over a couple of sessions to familiarise himself with the turbo-charged single-seater racer, before he set the world alight with a truly sensational lap time. After being told beforehand that if he could get within 5 seconds of the target time, which would have been quite reasonable for a young driver trying the FPA for the first-time, David came very close to upsetting the regular driver who had set the target lap time.
With one observer heard commenting: "I think we have a 'real' racing driver here", David was not only quicker than the target time for the first half of the lap, he ended the lap just 1.1s adrift of the time he had been aiming for, only losing time on the second half of the lap after running over a damp part of the track, which he felt cooled his tyres and lost him some pace.
"It was awesome," David commented with a grin afterwards. "The car just had so much power. It was a lot of fun to drive." And being so quick was an added bonus. The computer trace clearly told the "sensational" story.
If David can be so quick after only one session in the car, it now poses a dilemma for the family-run AVAGO team. Karting successes have been much in evidence for the British 'Stars' Champion, so much so that to make progress David needs to move up the racing ladder; there was little more that could be gained by remaining racing karts. But on the FPA evidence, it would be reasonable to assume that another day in the Palmer Audi would see the 19-year old blitz the target time with just a little more experience.
The search is now on for a budget to allow David to compete in the 2009 Formula Palmer Audi Championship. |
