MOTOR SPORT F1 IN SCHOOLS CHALLENGE: THEY MAY have only two provisional driving licences between them, but four Wicklow teenagers were burning rubber with the big boys of motorsport on Thursday night after winning the fifth Formula One in Schools Technology Challenge World Championships in London.

The Leaving Certificate students from St David’s School in Greystones beat off competition from 31 teams representing 20 countries to reach the top step on the podium and receive the Bernie Ecclestone Trophy from reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Koni Kats team of Eoin O’Connell, Conor Daly, Seán Cleary and Adam Gammell also picked the individual award for best engineered car and best verbal presentation, vital components in their overall success after they lost the final of the play-off races to a South African team.

As well as the trophy, the team also got a guided tour of the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, and all four have been offered engineering scholarships to City University London.

The victory comes at the end of two years of intense work by the students and staff at the 420-pupil school after they took on the project as part of their Transition Year studies.

Along the way they won the Irish F1 in Schools title in 2008, and also raised close to €20,000 to fund their project through various initiatives, including a deal with Dutch firm Koni, who supply shock absorbers to McLaren.

Speaking from London yesterday, team manager Eoin O’Connell summed up the achievement, while also paying tribute to the teaching staff for their encouragement along the way.

“We’re over the moon. We’ve been working for two years on this, so we are thrilled to have all our efforts recognised with this achievement.”