Tipton St John’s Harry Tincknell, 19, rounded off his debut season in the highly-competitive Cooper Tires British F3 International Series with a solid performance in the finale at the historic Silverstone circuit last weekend and has been confirmed support for next season.

The talented 19-year-old has enjoyed a race victory and four podium visits during his maiden campaign.

With his fast starts and thrilling overtaking, Tincknell has impressed a paddock which has seen racing greats such as Ayrton Senna and Jenson Button pass through its ranks.

Qualifying in 17th place for races one and three, the Fortec Motorsports driver was only 1.5 seconds away from pole-sitter Kevin Magnussen after setting a competitive lap time of 1:54.548.

Tincknell, one of ten drivers hand-picked from the nation’s 34,000 competition license holders for the MSA Team UK programme, fought his way through the field in the first race, once again highlighting his overtaking prowess as he climbed five places over the 15-lap encounter. This impressive performance was rewarded with a respectable 12th position and a higher grid placing for race two.

Bad luck struck at the start of the penultimate round as Tincknell was forced to react quickly to avoid a first corner collision. This pushed the teenager back to 18th, although he consistently posted fast lap times to take 16th at the chequered flag. Tincknell’s raw pace came to the fore on the final lap as he set a lap time which only the race winner Alexander Sims bettered.

Another positive showing in the final race saw Tincknell cut his way through to an impressive 11th-place finish from a lowly 17th position. Once again forced to take evasive action following an incident ahead, Tincknell signed off his season with a note of intent for next year.

Just missing out on a top-ten finish, Tincknell finished a credible 11th in the final standings for his debut season, and is eyeing further success in 2012.

“I’ve had the steep learning curve I was expecting this year, however scoring my first win was certainly the highlight,” said Tincknell. “I’ll reflect on where I need to improve over the winter. I’ve learned so much and want to thank everyone at Fortec Motorsports and the MSA for the belief they’ve shown in me.”