Epping racer Lochlan Bearman endured a frustrating weekend in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior series as he was thwarted by persistent power issues.

The 15-year-old entered last weekend’s meeting at Rockingham in fourth place in the championship and just three points behind third spot, but continuous problems prevented Bearman from making any headway.

The issues started to rear their head in qualifying as his car was down on power, meaning he could only qualify in 10th place.

Bearman got off to a good start in race one and moved up to fifth position by the end of the first lap, but it soon became clear that his car was still down on power, despite his team’s best efforts to fix the issue overnight, as he struggled on the straights.

After a tense and closely-fought battle with Josh Steed for fifth, Bearman was eventually overtaken on the straight, meaning the 15-year-old would have to settle for a disappointing sixth-place finish in race one.

Things went from bad to worse for the racer in race two as despite another good start, Bearman was knocked sideways at 95 mph by another driver, dropping him down to ninth place.

The persistent power problems continued to trouble the driver and thwarted any chance of a fight back, meaning that he finished in ninth.

It proved to be a tough weekend for Bearman, who slipped to fifth in the standings as a result, and the 15-year-old is now targeting an improved showing at Snetterton next month.

He said: “It’s been a terrible weekend. The only positives are that the data showed I was driving well and extracting all there was from the car.

“It’s imperative we score highly at Snetterton next month to put us back in contention in the championship as we have now reached the halfway stage.”