Jayan Prakash, a 7 year-old pupil at Bolton School Junior Boys’ School has won the Bambino National Championship of the Global Karting League UK in his first year of competitive racing. The competition was created by former Formula 1 Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley and has support from Idris Elba, the Hollywood superstar. The aim is to bring diversity to motorsport by improving access and parity racing.
Jayan's journey began as a hobby racer at a local track in Euxton with recreational karting. He quickly stepped up to competitive outdoor karting, joining Rookie Racing Training Academy. During 2023, he gained significant experience racing both electric and petrol karts at club and national level at two different class levels: Bambino (aged 6-8) and Cadet (aged 8-13).His exceptional progress allowed him to race Cadet a year ahead of schedule hitting speeds of up to 60mph.
Weekends often start with 5am alarm calls on a Saturday morning and races across the country from Cumbria's Rowrah to the challenging track at Whilton Mill, Daventry, where he recently secured the National Championship title.
His father, Dr Sandeep Prakash, said: ‘Jayan has shown commitment, maturity and work ethic beyond his years and has always bounced back from significant adversity immediately. He has exceeded all targets and expectations set by coaches and mentors.
He has won 18 trophies this year and has shown constant improvement. In 2024 he will focus on petrol cadet karting under a multiple championship winning team and hopes to take part in the British Karting Championship. 2024 will be extremely tough as he will be one of the youngest on the grids in the 8-13 age category.’
Earlier in the week, Jayan enjoyed being interviewed by BBC Radio Lancashire as part of a live broadcast.
