Back to school for Alex Sedgwick after podium finish in Dubai - The Leamington Observer

Back to school for Alex Sedgwick after podium finish in Dubai

Leamington Editorial 20th Jan, 2017   0

MOTORSPORT: IT WAS back to normality and the student life for Southam College pupil Alex Sedgwick after recording a magnificent podium finish at the Dubai 24 Hours event last weekend.

The 17-year-old partnered Josh Cook, Jon Maybin, Shayne Deegan and Ollie Cook to a second place finish in the A2 class in their Team Cooksport Renault Clio.

He took time out of his final year of A-Level studies to take part in the hugely popular event, but now he returns to college where he will resume his work in product design, geography and Spanish.

Sedgwick placed seventh in last year’s corresponding event, which was his maiden 24 hour race, and this time around he combined well with his co-drivers while setting the fastest race lap for the team in the A2 category as the team overcame issues.




“I’m absolutely delighted with the result but it was back down to earth with a bang on Monday when I went into Sixth Form,” said Sedgwick, who has plans to compete in the Creventic 24-Hour Series races this year.

“It was only my second ever 24 hour race, my first race since Dubai last January and my first race since the UK Clio Cup in 2015 with Team Cooksport.


“At the start of the race, I had no clutch pressure which caused me to lose my grid position and ultimately start almost a minute behind the class leader.

“But after 30 minutes I was inside the top three where we stayed for the remainder of the race. Unfortunately, we lost around five laps having the Clio towed back with around ten hours remaining when the car cut out on-track almost out of fuel due to a miscalculation – nothing to do with the team I hasten to add.

“With just over three hours to go, our Renault was hit by another car with Jon (Maybin) at the wheel causing front subframe and right front corner damage.

“With the car partially repaired but with the steering alignment still not true, I nursed the car towards the chequered flag.

“The steering issue caused the right front tyre to rub on the bodywork around left hand corners causing the Renault’s cabin to fill with smoke.

“But despite this issue, which caused a puncture with three laps remaining, I was still able to match the times of our class competitors.

“In addition to studying for my ‘A’ levels, I’ll now be working very hard in the coming weeks to get a programme together for the remainder of 2017.”

Sedgwick became a British Karting champion at the age of 12 and won the Ginetta Junior Scholarship two years later. He has also raced in Formula 4 single-seaters in Europe and in the Renault UK Clio Cup.

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