Known for his speed and fighting spirit on the track, he quickly regained his bearings as soon as racing resumed at the beginning of July. Although his results so far have been affected by various problems, often of a technical nature, he has nevertheless achieved extremely convincing performances. Courageous and hard-working, he is motivated by a strong ambition to be among the best in international karting.

Performance and Regrets in Zuera

Somewhat unsuccessful since the resumption of competition at the beginning of July with the WSK and Champions of the Future series, James Wharton was hoping to take his revenge at Zuera in the first of the three events of the 2021 FIA Karting European Championship. In the scorching heat of northern Spain, the Australian managed his Qualifying session well, finishing 17th out of a total of 66 drivers. In the first heat, after a perfect start, James Wharton managed to take the lead of a very lively field, but an incident led to his retirement with two laps to go.

Forced to minimise risk taking after this mishap, he secured 8th place in the next heat, before falling into a pile-up at the start of the next race. And despite a superb 5th place in his last heat, he just missed out on the Final, with many regrets. "You have to put the disappointment behind you and look to the future," said James. "In the meantime, I'd like to thank Bell Racing for the delivery of my new helmet and Lucky Design for the beautiful design."

About James Wharton

James Wharton is a 14-year-old Australian kart driver currently competing internationally in his first season in the premier class, OK, with the official Parolin Racing Kart factory team.

James started racing karting in Australia at the age of seven. He then shone in the most important single-brand world challenges before making his debut in FIA Karting competition. 13th in the World Junior Championship in his first season in 2018, he also won the KA 100 Junior class in Las Vegas at the SKUSA SuperNationals.

In 2019, in his first full season in OK-Junior, he achieved top results: 9th in the European Championship, 4th in the Italian Championship and 2nd in the legendary Winter Cup in Lonato. Despite an injury, he was fighting for victory in 2nd place in the World Championship when he was stopped by a mechanical problem. He was again victorious at the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas in the X30-Junior category.

An official Parolin Racing Kart driver, James is involved in the development and tuning of the equipment thanks to a very good rapport with Albino and Marco Parolin. His discovery of OK, the top category in karting, was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. He restarted competition in July 2020 with the aim of making it into the international top five.

James Wharton plans to continue his career as a single-seater driver with a first step into F4 as soon as he reaches the required age.