True to his word, fast-rising young New Zealand karter Marcus Armstrong got the podium place he predicted he would get at the final round of this year’s Rotax Max Euro Challenge at Salbris in France over the weekend.

The 14-year-old from Christchurch has been quick at all three previous rounds of the series but his third place finish in the Junior Final on Sunday was his first podium finish in a Final.

He did it in style too, forcing his way to the pointy end of the field after starting from P10 on the grid and crossing the finish line just over half a second behind winner Richard Verschoor from the Netherlands and just two-tenths behind second placed Thomas Preining with Dean MacDonald from Great Britain almost two seconds back in fourth.

“A few crashes in the Pre-Final put me back to tenth (meaning he started the Final from that position) but I managed to come back from there to third and set the fastest lap along the way,” Armstrong said, acknowledging his team, UK-based Dan Holland Racing for the part they played.

On his way to the third step on the podium in the Final Armstrong qualified seventh, then finished second to Thomas Preining in the warm-up race on Saturday, third behind Richard Verschoor and Dean MacDonald in Heat 2 and second to Preining in Heat 3.

That ranked him fourth after the heats and on the grid for the Pre-Final in which he finished 10th and from where he moved to third in the Final.

The result helped elevate Armstrong to seventh overall in the series standings in the Junior Max class, with the overall series title going to Preining from Verschoor and MacDonald.

Armstrong will now stay on in France to prepare for this year’s CIK-FIA World KFJ Karting Championship meeting in Essay where he will drive for the works’ Kosmic team.