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

Brooke Kitson said Saturday's World Championship race was a "great thing to be a part of", despite feeling "gutted" that her bid was cut short [James Burridge/BBC]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 was the youngest woman to qualify for the world title event [James Burridge/BBC]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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