Thompson Equals Best Ever Irish Performance in UK Karting

After a hectic season Gary Thompson has finished sixth in the Junior Intercontinental A class of the UK Super One kart series, equalling the best ever performance by an Irish driver in the top European championship.

The Donabate teenager produced another strong performance in the final round of the series at Rowrah, Cumbria to confirm his status as the top junior category driver from Ireland in the highly competitive British championship.

Thompson thus equalled the achievement of Dundalk racer Niall Breen who was sixth in the Super One JICA series in 2000 and who has recently been crowned the UK Formula BMW Champion in his second season of car racing.

Gary, 14, hopes to follow in the wheeltracks of his fellow countryman in the coming years and has already begun laying the foundations for next season's Super One JICA series.

The Ricky Flynn Motorsport Birel-Parilla run driver will travel to France shortly for testing aimed at isolating the best chassis/engine combination for next year.

After that Gary, a second year student at Colaiste Choilm School in Swords, is looking forward to the popular Italian 'Industrials' meeting at Parma in October, an event he finished tenth in last year against the cream of Europe's top drivers.

His final outing of the season will be the famous Champions Cup meeting at Vendrell, Spain in December after which he can look forward to next season's campaigns in Britain and Europe.

"It's been a good season and I'm glad I had a good finishing position in the Super One series," said Gary. "We've had problems in a few the races during the year but on the whole it went well. I was consistently quick and I'm looking forward to trying to win the Super One championship in 2007."