Lochlan Bearman admitted he never expected to finish on the podium after overcoming a weekend of troubles to finish second in round six of the Whilton Mill Kart Club Championship on Sunday.

The Theydon Bois-based racer went into the halfway stage event as championship leader and having enjoyed victory in round five two weeks earlier.

Speaking afterwards, Bearman said: “I never thought we would be on the podium with all the issues we have had this weekend.

“But Cooper Motorsport have done a great job to work around the problems and give me a kart I can race. It was going to be about damage limitation today but in the end it is a good result.”

But on a hot practice day, the 13-year-old was hit with power issues from the outset, complaining afterwards: “I had nothing out of the corners or down the straights, the kart was just dead.”

Sunday dawned wet and Bearman started heat one from pole position. It was immediately obvious his kart could not change direction in the same manner as his competitors and he was still struggling for power, yet managed to finish fourth following a solid drive.

Starting heat two from the back of the grid, Bearman shot into fifth before advancing one place further to finish in fourth once more.

The track had dried in time for heat three and after starting in sixth, Bearman fought through the field to reach third at one stage before falling back into fourth by the finish.

And those results put Bearman in fourth place for the final.

Having completed lap one in third place, Bearman appeared to be benefitting from greater power and better handling, moving up into second place by the end of lap two.

Bearman held onto second place through until lap eight, at which point he was overtaken and demoted to third place. He bode his time before launching an assault on the car which had passed him, letting his tyres cool before re-claiming second.

However, despite his best efforts Bearman could not overtake the leader, who had built enough of a gap to seal the win without any pressure. Bearman, meanwhile, got home in second to complete a satisfactory weekend’s work.

He returns to action in round eight of the Hunts Kart Racing Championship in a fortnight.