THREE drivers with Mid Cheshire backgrounds won British titles at the weekend.
Luke Browning secured the second series crown of his career after wrapping up the 2022 GB3 Championship at Donington Park.
Ian Loggie took the honours in the British GT Championship for the first time, also at Donington Park.
And Matt Robinson secured number one spot in the British Superkart Super Series at Oulton Park.
Former St Nicholas Catholic High School student Browning, 20, headed into the season finale with a 16.5 point lead over main rival Joels Granfors, with the Hitech GP racer bidding to add to the British F4 title he lifted back in 2020.
He grabbed an unassailable lead in the standings with his second-place finish in race two of three, and then signed off by crossing the line seventh to conclude events with a lead of 46.5 points.
As his prize for winning the title, Browning will take part in a two-day test in an FIA Formula 3 car before the end of the year.
“I’m absolutely elated to wrap up the title,” he said.
“I have to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me, and to everyone at Hitech as we have worked so hard for this.
“Going into the weekend, we talked about our approach and I knew that if I tried to be conservative and didn’t drive in my normal way, then that was when things could go against me.
“I wanted to get the title sewn up before race three as anything could have happened in that one.
"We’ve had a few unfortunate moments along the way but all these ups and downs throughout the season just makes this sweeter.
"It feels incredibly special to win the championship, and I’m looking forward to where I go next.
“I can’t wait for the F3 test, to race in that series would be an absolute dream. I’m in the best place for it now and let’s see what happens.”
Meanwhile Robinson, who was third on his debut in the Division One class of the British Superkart Super Series last year, did the business at the weekend to seal top spot.
In atrocious conditions, Robinson, 27, qualified on pole position and finished second in race one, and in the pouring rain he won race two to seal the deal in a class which features the fastest karts on the planet competing on all the top circuits in the UK and Europe.
The former Rudheath High School and Sir John Deane's College student won the English and British F125 titles in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Northwich racer Loggie was 25.5 points clear of his nearest rival going into the final round of the British GT Championship at Donington Park and was looking to tie up his first spoils in the series after six years of trying, writes Ste McNorton.
Having had various teammates throughout the season, the Mercedes driver welcomed back French superstar Joules Gounon to provide some first class firepower.
After showing decent pace through the earlier practice sessions, when it came to qualifying a rain shower after just one lap brought out the red flag.
The track was now completely different, and even with Gounon going five seconds faster, their combined times was only good enough for 11th place.
With weather conditions ideal come Sunday morning warm-up, the No 6 RAM Racing Mercedes showed no signs of being slow as they put in the fastest time in the short 15-minute session by nearly half a second.
As the lights went out at the commencement of the two-hour pit stop race, Loggie had a dreadful start and found himself in 23rd position.
Even after the first 10 laps he was still only in 18th place, outside of the points.
On lap 25 and after the safety car was deployed Loggie found himself back up to ninth position about 25 seconds behind the leader.
Then on lap 40, Loggie made his mandatory pit stop and handed over to Gounon, and with most of the other top runners pitting the lap after, the No6 was in second just 5.5 seconds off the leader.
Gounon managed to get within one second of the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, but he just couldn’t get past as the No 91 car went on to take it’s maiden victory in Britain.
Still, second place was more than good enough for Loggie to take the championship and RAM Racing took the constructor's title too.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here