AJ Owen has been crowned the Pre-2003 Touring Car Championship champion in his first season in the series

The 23-year-old wrapped up the title at Thruxton at the weekend.

Owen came second in both races to ensure he finished the season on top of the podium.

The Hazlemere racer triumphed with a total of eight overall wins, five second places and one third from the 16 races in his Honda Civic Type R.

Throughout the series the former Sir William Ramsay pupil was hampered by having to carry ‘success ballast’, ranging from 25kg to 75kg, in his car and only had two races where he was not required to carry the extra weight.

Owen said after claiming the title: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. It was pure relief that the dream had come true when I won. You see other people do it and you wish it was you, now it is me and it feels fantastic.”

Owen held a healthy lead going into the final day and knew staying out of trouble was vital.

He said: “In motorsport something can always go wrong. I was leading a championship before and in the space of two weeks I had one finish in four races and dropped to fifth or sixth in the championship so you can never take anything for granted.”

Owen will have to wait to get his hands on his richly-deserved trophy though. He won’t receive that until the championship’s awards dinner in January but he says he can hang on for that.

He said: “When I started the series I never thought it would happen. I thought to win just one race all series would be good let alone winning eight and winning the championship.”