Jack Harvey battles for the lead at la Conca in Italy (Chris Walker/KSP)

It rounded off a strong debut in the KF2 class for the 14-year-old, who won the European KF3 title last season.

Harvey admitted his Birel Motorsport team deserved much of the credit.

He said: "You can�t ask for more as a driver when the team is working that hard for you. I�m pleased I was able to get some good results to repay them."

Harvey took two fourth and two second places in the heats to give him a second row starting position for the 16-lap pre-final race, in which he finished in second place, less than a second behind the winner.

His result put him on the front row for the grand final, and despite pressuring the leader in the early stages of the race, a battle with the chasing drivers saw him slip out of contention for the victory, but he was able to hold on to claim the final podium spot.

His two top-three results mean that he left the Italian circuit third in the points standings.

Jack Harvey picks up his first silverware of the season (Chris Walker/KSP)

�Second and third in the two point-scoring races over the course of the weekend is a great result,� said Harvey.

�The meeting started off really well for us in testing on Thursday, but we struggled a bit on Friday and I thought that we might be in for a tough weekend.

"But I�ve got to thank everyone in the Birel team, they worked so hard to give me the best kart possible. Everyone was fantastic over the weekend and I was able to drive as hard as possible every time I went out.�

Jack now has a long break before his next European event at Lonato in Italy in May, but he plans on getting in some rigorous testing before round two of the series.