Young Sheffield motor racing star takes first senior title

The Sheffield teenager secured the Daniel Ricciardo Series 125 Senior 'DRS' plate title on his senior karting debut at the coveted meeting at Rissington Kart Circuit in Gloucestershire.

The young racing driver, who is still only 16, has been competing in kart racing across the UK most weekends since the age of five. His recent win builds on his previous success in junior karting where Rowan was crowned UK junior karting Champion, the youngest ever winner of the National Series, at the age of 14.

Now the South Yorkshire schoolboy is competing in the senior ranks of karting in both the Iame X30 Series and the Daniel Ricciardo Series.

Ahead of the 2023 main championship season, which gets underway in Oxfordshire at the end of April, the Daniel Ricciardo UK Karting Series headed to Rissington Kart Circuit in Gloucestershire for the popular ‘DRS' plate meeting. This allows Rowan to display the letters ‘DRS’ on his number plate rather than a number for the main championship throughout 2023 effectively seeding him as a firm favourite.

The Daniel Ricciardo Series is a “one make” series meaning that all competitors have one kart chassis, one engine, fixed gear ratios, controlled fuel, and oil and one set of slick and wet tyres for racing, making this a fair and level playing field for all competitors.

On race day, Rowan immediately set the pace on lap one of the first practice topping the time sheets by over half a second.

In the 14-lap grand final, Rowan then led 12 laps over 14 and was only challenged once. He held on easily to win the coveted DRS plate title for 2023 by over half a second. Rowan will now run the DRS plate on his kart all year in the upcoming championship series.

Rowan said: “The weekend was very special, from the practice seasons of Saturday to all the races on Sunday but my focus all weekend was to be at my best and to win the ‘DRS’ plate on my debut in the Daniel Ricciardo Series Senior Class is a fantastic start to the year.”

Rowan’s Chief Race Engineer and Team Manager, Jack Woodhouse, said: “This young racing driver continues to impress as he moves from karting to full race spec cars. His application and focus have been exemplary and he continues to stand out as someone to keep a close eye on.”

Around his karting, Rowan is one of less than 40 young drivers in the country testing Formula 4 and GB4. He has been racking up mileage at the very best of UK circuits in a Formula 4 single seater race car as part of the prestigious Arden’s Young Racing Driver Academy programme.

Last month, Rowan also visited Ice Drive Sweden, with Tom Canning from Aston Martin Racing, to drive a BMW 130i on a frozen lake, following in the footsteps of many Formula 1 stars such as Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas who honed their craft there.

Conscious to give back, Rowan hosted a charity karting event, and abseiled Sheffield Hallam University’s Owen Building. He has raised over £5,000 for The Children’s Hospital Charity since becoming an Ambassador for them in January.