“Student racer Niki tipped for stardom”
“A DETERMINED physics student has been tipped as the racing driver to watch by a national magazine after an impressive performance at Brands Hatch”
“Niki Lanik, of Homestall Road, Ashurst Wood, stunned onlookers at the race by contending for pole position in his Fiesta XR2 after climbing from 10th place in the Stock Hatch Lass event.”
“With victory within grasp, he spent a couple of seconds in the lead before being shoved off the roadby another racer.”
“The sixth-former at Greenfields School, Forest Row, said: ‘I caught up the first four cars and one by one overtookthem until I overtook the leader - but he then knocked me into the barrier at about 70mph, which broke my steering, and I was forced to retire. Although he went on to win the race, he was disqualified from the final due to this incident.’”
“In Thursday’s issue, Autosport magazine described Austrian-born Niki as ‘a young man with a future’ who was ‘cruelly robbed’ from victory on April 24.
“Judjing from his performance, few would have guessed Niki’s engine had blown up during a test drive days earlier.”
“He said: ‘My father and I rebuilt the engine over Friday night and Saturday to be ready for qualifying Sunday morning’.”
“Forty students from the school went to Brands Hatch to watch him and racing partner JJ Vannier, a former student at the school.”
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