A Carshalton teenager has won a Surrey motorsport championship in only his second year of racing.

Kieran Ives, 14, was crowned the Daytona Sandown Park Inkart Championship winner in Esher on December 17 after a ‘nail-biting’ finish.

He secured the trophy after racing with 31 drivers in the junior category and 28 others in the senior RT8 tournament where he finished third.

Kieran, who idolises Formula 1 driver Jenson Button, has only been racing since last year and is now a sponsored semi-pro driver with ambitions to go professional.

Proud dad David Ives, of Woodley Road, said: “It’s hard to describe but when you see him out there and he is picking off places and driving, handling situations not looking too stressed, that sort of thing, biding his time and making clean moves, it’s brilliant.

“We are all very proud of him and with the purchase of his own kart and move into the Junior Subaru Championship, we plan to continue his development into becoming a professional driver.”

Kieran, who is also a Buckmore Park star pupil for 2017, got into the sport through watching Grand Prix races and going down to Brands Hatch racing circuit with his father.

Although his two older brothers David Jr, 28, and Ben, 24, are football fans of Aston Villa and Liverpool respectively, it was watching 18-year-old racing drivers Lando Morris and Billy Monger that has inspired him.

Mr Ives, director of Verona RDS Ltd, added: “Jenson Button is our big favourite, if you like, but there is also a guy called Lando Norris. We have seen him race in the junior categories, so he was in the Ginetta [Junior Championship] along with a guy called Billy Monger who lost his legs. It was quite a bad accident.

“So we have seen these guys racing when they were like 14 in Ginettas and things like that, and now they are moving up into Formula 1.

“Billy Monger is a big influence on a lot people, not only because he is a nice kid but also because he was doing really, lost both his legs, and now he is doing really well again.

“David is Aston Villa and Ben is Liverpool. I have no idea where it came from, but they have both been to the grounds. We sort of joke that they put me off [football] for life.

“I just used to watch the Grand Prix. I like the adrenaline and speed of it, so when Kieran came along I was determined to go. We go to Brands Hatch a lot, and they have their own little karting circuit there so we said we were going to have a go in the go karts there, enjoyed it, [and] did well.”

Kieran has also recently joined professional karting racing team Lica Motorsport for the 2018 season, with sponsorships from Verona RDS, Spotless Mobile and car showroom Kinghams of Croydon.

For more information, you can visit: www.kieranives.co.uk