Eye-catching Anderton stuns observers on European debut and step-up in class

Ryan Anderton left observers and his rivals alike with mouths agape on his international debut in the 2012 Euro Rotax Challenge curtain-raiser at Genk in Belgium – and despite a double step-up in class, the talented young Somerset karting star took to his new surroundings like the proverbial duck to water.

After ranking an excellent third in the country in the MSA British Cadet category of the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship in 2011, Ryan has graduated to the more powerful Mini Max class with Coles Racing for the forthcoming national campaign. When an eleventh-hour opportunity then presented itself to enter the Euro Rotax Challenge one notch further up the ladder still at Junior Rotax level, the highly-rated Glastonbury-based hotshot admits it was too good to refuse.

“I was really looking forward to it, but at the same time, I knew we would be up against it,” he confessed. “I had no chance to try the kart out beforehand, and the top ten or so drivers are all of an extremely high calibre. It was all a bit last-minute, to be honest, so we were fully expecting it to be a big learning curve and we weren’t too sure where we would shake out in the pecking order.”

“There are quite a few similarities in terms of the two karts’ characteristics; the brakes are sharper on the Junior Rotax, but it has power in all the same places as the Mini Max – there’s just a bit more of it, and as far as I’m concerned, the faster, the better!”

“Coles is a new team for us, but I’ve settled in really well. It’s clearly a very successful and professional outfit, with an excellent record in the sport, and I’ve already established a good relationship with my mechanic there. I’m confident we can have a strong season together.”

Grinning like a Cheshire cat the first time he climbed out of his new kart, Ryan acknowledged that his familiarity with Genk – he is a former podium-finisher there in FKS – was a help, and he got down to business impressively quickly, lapping on the leading pace immediately and ending practice firmly ensconced inside the top three.

Buoyed by words of encouragement from his mechanic, the St. Dunstan’s Community School pupil sped to the fastest time in his group in qualifying, placing him a superb second overall in the bumper, 66-strong field, a mere hundredth shy of the outright benchmark and toasting a ‘brilliant’ start. From there, he headed into his three heat races with his tail up – only the first of them would go far from according to plan.

“My engine wouldn’t fire up on the grid,” he recounted, “and after I finally got it going, I was unable to regain my original position. That left me right in amongst the pack and with it all to do, and I then got shunted off in the first corner – one of the hazards of beginning the race in the middle of the field. I was 21st at the end of the opening lap, but I was coming through very quickly and was almost back into the top ten when I went for a move on the driver ahead and he turned in on me. The impact was enough to throw me out of my kart…”

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Info Russell Atkins  / © Photo KSP