Stock car driver, 18, inspired by dad in world bid

A teenage driver believed to be the youngest woman to qualify for a world stock car race title says she is following in the footsteps of her trophy-winning father.

Brooke Kitson, 18, from March in Cambridgeshire, was one of two female competitors to compete for the BriSCA F1 Stock Car World Championships at Northampton's Shaleway track on Saturday.

She said she was "gutted" she only managed three or four laps of the 25-lap race before a crash and a flat tyre ended her hopes, but it was a "really great thing to be a part of".

The driver said she had been inspired to compete in the male-dominated sport by her father, Daz Kitson, a former F2 world champion, who twice took the title.

Kitson said despite her "short-lived" time in the world final, "the feeling was amazing".

"I'll be aiming for it next year, but whether I get into it you never know - it's stock car racing, but if I do hopefully I'll be able to survive for a few more laps and not get crushed into," she said.

"I was in the wrong place in the wrong time, but there were a lot of people who didn't even survive one lap.

"I'm really happy that I managed to do it at this age and so early on in my racing career.

"It's a nice achievement - I am the youngest ever female qualifier for that race."

She said 36 drivers took part in the final and about 15 people finished.

Drivers from New Zealand, the US and Holland were among those lining up on the grid.

Kitson started stock car racing at the age of 11.

"My dad was a double world champion in BriSCA F2 and I always looked up to him as a kid and one day I came home from school and I was like 'how cool would it be if I told everyone I raced cars'," she said.

"It means so much to me to be in one of these big races because never did I ever think that at this age - at 18 - I'd be sat on this grid."

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