LONDON – Winning 13 races in the race, a young British Muslim teenager has won British Formula 3 Championship, beating a record held by F1 legend Ayrton Senna since 1983.
“A few weekends ago I became the British Formula 3 Champion and then this weekend I was able to beat my all-time childhood hero Ayrton Senna’s record,” Enaam Ahmed told BBC Newsbeat on Monday.
The F3 championship record has been held by the Brazilian legend, Senna, who was racing in Formula 3.
Ahmed’s victory happened at the British Formula 3 finale at Donnington Park in Leicestershire.
“It’s pretty amazing for me, I’m just a normal kid from London,” Ahmed said.
“Senna’s been my hero my whole life, to even get near his win record is pretty special to me.”
Following the record-breaking win, Ahmed thanked Allah by tweeting:
“Thank you Allah for blessing me all year. The glory is all yours,” he wrote.
Thank you Allah for blessing me all year. The glory is all yours, I’m just your disciple. Just scored Win No.1️⃣3️⃣ #BlessedAndGrateful pic.twitter.com/PI0YWQWRX2
— Enaam Ahmed (@Enaammotorsport) September 25, 2017
Ahmed had already won the championship but he then got his 13th victory in the final race.
Becoming world and European karting champion when he was 14, Ahmed also got 654 points, the highest amount of points ever achieved in the series.
The Muslim champion has been billed as the next Lewis Hamilton and although he has a long way to go, he dreams of racing in the F1 championships one day if he got sponsors.
“I’ve been sending 10 letters a day to try and get sponsors, 99% I never get anything back, but I always have hope,” he said.