Ranked 50th in official Qualifying, but eventually qualifying for the Final where he finished 19th, James Wharton concluded his European Championship with a performance of which he has the secret. "Time trials are a very important part of an FIA Karting event," said James. "Unfortunately I couldn't find a good window to set the lap time I was hoping for and ended up 50th out of 56. It was one of the worst sessions of my career... We had found a good balance with my equipment in Thursday's practice. But my Parolin-TM Racing didn't find the same effectiveness the next day. I think I'm not the only driver in Zuera who had difficulties making the tyres work properly, as the performance was fluctuating. On this very fast track, the engine set-up was also very important."

A dream start in the Final...

The All Road Management driver remained positive and worked hard to improve his equipment during the heats, in which he made a festival of it: seven places gained in the first heat, one in the second after a setback, no less than 10 in the third and nine again in the last. His fighting spirit certainly made sparks fly. "I was happy to be competitive again and to be able to fight with my rivals on a regular basis, even though I wasn't completely satisfied with my pace in some parts of the circuit. But overall, with the exception of the second heat where an incident slowed me down a lot, it was a good surprise to qualify for the Final, moving up from 50th to 34th place."

With this goal of qualifying for the Final achieved, the Ferrari Driver Academy driver maintained his level of focus and determination to continue his progress. "I chose the right option again at the start of the Final, which allowed me to gain many positions. On the sixth of the 18 laps of the race, I was still 12th. Behind, the pack was pushing hard, I tried to resist some drivers, but we were a few tenths short of scoring further points in the OK European Championship, which I finished in 23rd place."

James Wharton will still have gained a lot of experience in this high level Championship, which is one of the benchmarks for young motorsport hopefuls. His karting season is not over yet, as the Australian will participate in the final of another European Championship in mid-August in Adria, Italy, in the KZ2 category with its powerful 125cc gearbox engines.

About James Wharton

James Wharton is a 15-year-old Australian kart driver, currently competing in his first international season in the KZ2 class alongside the OK class, a dual programme with the official Parolin Motorsport team.

James started racing karting in Australia at the age of seven. He then shone in the most important single-brand world challenges before making his debut in FIA Karting competition. 13th in the World Junior Championship in his first season in 2018, he also won the KA 100 Junior class in Las Vegas at the SKUSA SuperNationals.

In 2019, in his first full season in OK-Junior, he achieved top results: 9th in the European Championship, 4th in the Italian Championship and 2nd in the legendary Winter Cup in Lonato. He was again victorious at the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas in the X30-Junior category.

An official driver for the Parolin Motorsport Srl team, James is involved in the development and tuning of the equipment thanks to a very good rapport with Albino and Marco Parolin. Despite a 2020 disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, he has rapidly progressed in the category hierarchy and is aiming for a season rich in results.

Thanks to his competitiveness and fighting qualities, James Wharton was selected to join the prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy. Managed by All Road Management, Nicolas Todt's company, James Wharton will continue his career in karting in 2021, before taking the plunge into single-seater racing in the near future.