A young racing driver from Swindon has been crowned the Champion of Brands after claiming his 16th win of the season in Formula Ford.

Lucas Romanek, 19, entered the final weekend of the season at Brands Hatch with 14 wins to his name and the United Championship in the bag, as well as having been ranked in the top five in the Autosport National Driver Rankings since August.

The Swindon-born driver enjoyed a stellar final weekend of the season as he won both races around the circuit which used to host the British Grand Prix to be named the Champion of Brands for the second successive season.

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Romanek said: “We threw everything at 2023, to come away with the wins and trophy titles is great.

“Formula Ford is a great stepping stone to learn race craft after karting and I would encourage anyone wanting to make the leap into cars to give it a go.

“This was also the first year in Castle Combe and I really enjoyed it, the level of fans and number of Formula Fords is probably the best in the country.”

2023 has seen Romanek claim plenty of silverware, as well as the Champion of Brands and the United Championship, he has also taken home his third consecutive Martin Down Trophy, as well as the Ulster Cup, and Tourist Trophy.

During the qualifying session at Brands Hatch, Romanek produced a dominant performance to qualify on pole by a margin of 2.142 seconds in wet conditions.

On a track that was a mixture of wet and dry in race one, the 19-year-old got a great drive off the line and maintained his lead into the first corner, and he never relinquished it. Romanek set multiple fastest laps on course to reaching the chequered flag 29 seconds ahead of second place.

The track appeared to have dried out by the time of the second race and Romanek had set his car up for this before a heavy downpour shortly ahead of the start completely changed the complexion. Quick adjustments had to be made for the new wet conditions and this caused issues for several drivers, with red flags coming out after eight laps due to a two-car collision.

But despite the many disruptions, Romanek held on to his pole position and set the fastest lap once again on his way to a second victory of the weekend.