Ireland has a new Kart Racing star – ten year-old Alex O’Grady from Loughrea, Co Galway, is the new World Champion of the IAME Minime Cadet class.

At the World Finals at the Le Mans circuit in France, O’Grady started in third place on the grid for the main race, after finishing third in the Pre Final behind Britain’s Lewis Wherrel and Zach Knight.

When the Final got under way, Wherrel and Knight set the early pace, with the Galway youngster close behind in third position, and this soon became second when Knight tangled with another driver. One lap later, O’Grady went to the front, and stayed there to the chequered flag despite all the efforts of a large group of rivals who were right behind.

At the finish, O’Grady was the champion, just one tenth of a second ahead of Britain’s Alfie Slater, with Wherrel third ahead of another Irish driver, eleven year-old Jack Buckley from Kildare. Andrei Dabija from Clondalkin made it a great result for the Irish contingent by finishing sixth.