PUPILS from a St Albans school are following closely in the slipstream of Formula 1 stars Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Marlborough College has entered seven teams made up of three drivers in the British Schools Karting Championships (BSKC) and last Thursday, February 3, some of them made it through to the South of England final after winning the regional semi final.

Competing alongside teams from Harrow and Shepherd’s Bush, Nathan Stimson, Adam Payne and Tom Rawsthorne racked up a total of 117 points out of a possible 120 over six races to finish top of the heats.

They will now compete in the South of England final on March 6 at the Sandown Park Circuit driving larger 400cc twin engined ‘pro’ karts which can do up to 65mph. These are the same spec of karts as those in which F1 stars like Hamilton and Button began their careers in motorsport.

The BSKC is a national karting series endorsed by the motosports association for 13-18 year olds. It’s the second year that the school has entered and last year they reached second place in the regional heats and sixth place overall.