Stirling wins at Under 18 World Karting Championships in Spain

Stirling started the meeting in fourth place after a tough opening round but after Saturday’s opening heats it was clear that the brother of the 2008 British champion could well move even higher in the rankings.

Early signs of Stirling’s potential came when he pushed British champion Jordan Chamberlain all the way in his third heat and the results were enough to make Stirling the highest placed UK driver overall by the time the pre finals came around.

A missed pile up in the opening corner of his fourth heat gave the team some jitters but Stirling shrugged it off as one of the elements that make the close sport so spectacular.

Keeping him company was his Millenium Motorsport team mate John Norris from Dublin and together the pair surged forward at every opportunity in the first pre final, although on one occassion it nearly ended when Norris outbraked himself resulting in Stirling piling into him and forcing the Moira lad down to sixth.

With reverse grids for the next pre final Stirling really had a tough battle ahead and Norris just pipped him to it in sixth with Adam settling for seventh.

Stirlings pace in that race was confirmed when he scorched past Chamberlain and with the three team mates now in the running for podium places overall the grand final was sure to be close.

From the off however it was clear that Stirling really did have the pace and despite the competition from the remainder of his team mates Stirling made it through to the front in what was rapidly developing as a nail biter of a final.

With the world championship now within Stirlings grasp it was clear that he needed to have a clean final and that is just what he did despite the pressure from his very rapid team mates and Teemu Suninen from Finland, the 2010 European KF2 champion.

In the dying laps however Stirling came under pressure from Suninen and Chiara Poletto from Italy who had made it past Chamberlain in third. Stirling however held firm and in the end made his lead stick and with this amazing win under his belt there is every chance that Stirling could bring home the first ever non gearbox world championship.

Afterwards Adam’s dad Alan commented, "This has to be one of the most amazing days of the Stirling Brothers team.

“With a British championship title to our credit and now the potential of a World Championship title it just cant get any better but it was extremely nerve wrecking at times. Big credit though to the Mellinium Motorsport team for keeping everything on the machine in first class shape."

The team returns for a short break before heading to the final at Val d'Argenton in France on October 3.