Super stuff: Karting ace Cotty lands championship
Chichester-based racing driver Emily Cotty has won the prestigious Super One Junior Karting Championship.
The 15-year-old beat 47 other drivers in a grid that included just two other regular female competitors.
As we reported last September, Emily won her final round of Super One at Shenington in 2023 – and she returned there again this August to secure her overall series victory for 2024.
Previous winners of Super One have included Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and George Russell.
With six podiums throughout the season, Emily remained calm on the final weekend despite starting with a narrow six-point lead.
Her fast and consistent driving all weekend paid off, as she ended the final day 32 points ahead.
Emily is one of the few girls in British karting history to win a national karting championship and the first since current F1 Academy star Abbi Pulling to do so.
The series included rounds at GYG in Wales, Rowrah in the Lake District, Clay Pigeon in the South West, Fulbeck in Lincolnshire and Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire, with the final round held at Shenington in Oxfordshire.
Emily completed her last round in the British Kart Championship at the start of September at Whilton Mill Kart Club.
She had her highest-position finish for the year in the final, and a sixth in one of the two heats.
It was her rookie season in the BKC – a class that goes up to 16-year-olds, and Emily only turned 15 a month ago.
Her focus will now shift to car racing, where she has been testing this season with Argenti Motorsport in Formula 4.
As a student at Minerva Virtual Academy, an online school, Emily is able to test and race while keeping up with her school commitments during her GCSE year, no matter where she is in the UK, Europe or the world.
Emily recently competed in an academy at Magny-Cours in France, where she made it to the quarter-finals – the only female to do so – before withdrawing from the competition to concentrate on her karting and F4 test programme.
Emily’s programme with Argenti Motorsport for the remainder of this year and into the next is already busy.
She will test for the next few weeks in her F4 car, then head to the UAE to race in Dubai and twice in Abu Dhabi.
The first race in Abu Dhabi is a support event for the final round of the 2024 F1 season.
After the UAE, Emily will race in the Spanish Winter Series to prepare for a full season of racing in British F4.
She will compete at iconic circuits such as Silverstone, Donington Park, and Brands Hatch.
The series also includes two overseas rounds in 2025, one of which is likely to be at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, the home circuit of F1 world champion Max Verstappen.