Braintree karting ace Tom Joyner is hoping home comforts will help him stay on track for CIK-FIA European KF Championship glory this year.

The KF class is considered to be the pinnacle of world kart racing and the European title is the only major one that has eluded the 23-year-old, who became World champion in 2013, in his glittering career.

So he is desperate to fill that gap and is well-placed after the opening one of this year’s three rounds.

He is sitting in second place heading into this weekend’s second round at the PF International circuit in Grantham in Lincolnshire and as it is a venue that he has grown up racing on, he is feeling confident of building on his good start in Portugal last month.

Joyner, who races for the Swedish Strakka Bhai Tech team, said: “It’s the fifth year in a row that either the European or World championships have been to PFI so all the main drivers have had a good chance to get a look at the track.

“That means any advantage is less than it would have been, but I have a lot of family and friends who will be travelling up for it so I’ll have plenty of support up there.

“I’m feeling quite confident.

“We went well in practice last week and everything went to plan, so that was good, but then there were others high up in the championship who were looking just as fast.

“So I think it’s going to be a very tight weekend."