Jack Sales netted his first victory since making the step-up from Karting last time out in the Caterham Academy at Rockingham.

The 20 year-old from Tunbridge Wells took his first victory in Group two of the Championship and underlines his progress this season race by race.

Kent Sports News caught up with Jack to find out about his season so far and how he made the difficult transition from karting to track racing.

He said: “As you would probably expect, it’s quite different. There is much more to think about when racing a car; you have much more power, you have gear changes to think about and weight transfer to think about, so you have to be much smoother with the throttle application than in karting. If you had a slide in a kart (apart from a kart with very grippy tyres) you could get away with it without losing too much time, whereas in a car, you lose quite a lot of time.

“I have to say I am absolutely loving the Caterham racing and I had any advice to any karters who are contemplating moving to cars, it would be to go for it! With the Caterham racing, everything is very fair and you don’t need to throw money at it like you do in karting; for example, I have only used one set of tyres for the year so far, whereas people in Karting were using 1, 2, even 3 sets of tyres every weekend! My experience of the driving standards from people is also very good, there used to be a lot of contact and frayed tempers in karting and that really doesn’t happen in Caterham’s unless someone makes a genuine mistake and if there has been contact, generally people shake hands and move on.

In his first race of the season he finished in sixth place and since then he has really kicked on and progressed with a series of second place finishes.

He added: “Yes, I would say I was content with that, but not over the moon. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of my results before the start of the year, however I was around 3rd or 4th fastest in the pre-season test day at Castle Combe, so I was aiming for a possible podium, but I ended up making a few mistakes.

“After that I started to get much more comfortable in the car and had second second places in the last two sprints at Snetterton and Blyton. I certainly felt I had podium pace when the first proper race came round at Donington, but I made a few mistakes in the race and had a small off track excursion too which cost me valuable time.

“Despite this, I was challenging for third place on the last lap, but the position was defended extremely well and I ran out of time. To come away with a fourth place though was very satisfying and the race was great fun with some very close racing, which is what Caterham’s are famous for!

“The title is now out of my grasp as it has been pretty much wrapped up now. The battle is now between me and another competitor for second and third in the championship and I think I am a couple of points ahead, so it is still all to play for and it’s certainly going to be a very tense race at Silverstone. Before the season started, I really didn’t know what to expect. I dreamt about doing well, but realistically I had no idea and could have been anywhere between first and 21st!”

In his home race at Brands Hatch, Jack went onto secure a fantastic second place and then at Rockingham he took that one step further with his first ever victory.

“I was very pleased with that one. I got pole in qualifying and got the fastest lap of the race, but missed out on the win by half a car-length, so close, but yet so far. It was a really good, clean battle all race long and I was glad we could put on a good show for my family and friends. It was also really cool using the big podium above the pitlane at Brands and being interviewed for the circuit PA.

“I’m absolutely chuffed to bits! I had a good pace at Brands and I was eager to find out if I could translate that pace to another track and prove that the Brands pace was not a one-off, which I did and came away with the best result possible so I am really happy. Silverstone can’t come soon enough!

“I had a good pace all weekend and managed to qualify on pole position, with a reasonable gap to second place; but I knew that it would all change in the race, which is exactly what happened.

“I managed to make a good start and held the lead in the first couple of laps, and actually started to build a small gap as there was a change of position for second behind me. However, I could not run the same pace as I had done earlier in the weekend, I suppose I had some nerves as I had not really lead a race before ( I did for a single lap at Brands, but that is all) and once second place got in to my slipstream, they were able to reel me in. I then had to change my strategy from trying to set fast laps and pulling away to trying to defend and hold on to the lead which, thankfully, I did.

“I made sure I covered the inside line where needed and made sure I didn’t out-brake myself or go wide anywhere. I made sure I got a clean exit out of the last corner on the last lap so I didn’t get drafted to the line and took the chequered flag.”

Believe it or not despite this season not being over just yet, Jack is already looking forward to his next challenge for 2014, what is his challenge? Well Jack exclusively reveals his options.

He said: “I am planning on doing the Caterham Roadsport championship (finances allowing) which is the next step up the Caterham ladder. The car is the same as the one I have been using this year, but it uses better tyres, has more options with regards to anti-rollbars, it has harder valve springs to cope with more engine revs and you have the option to install a brake bias adjuster.

“The championship runs across seven weekends from March/April until September/October with one round mid-year being held abroad, normally in Northern Europe (the circuits visited in the last few years include Zandvoort in Holland, Nurgurgring GP in Germany and Zolder in Belgium). Each weekend consists of 1 qualifying session and 2 20 minute races, which should be really exciting.

“I am looking to try and gain some sponsorship to race next year. All of the races attract fairly healthy crowds at the race tracks and the majority of the races are televised on Motors TV and Channel 4, which will hopefully continue on into next year, so the coverage of the championship is very good.”

You can find out more about Jack by visiting his website http://www.jacksalesracing.co.uk/ and you can email him on [email protected]