Tonbridge racer Adrian Quaife-Hobbs enjoyed a dream debut in the AutoGP World Series at Monza.

The 21-year-old only confirmed his plans days before taking part in the first race of the series.

After claiming pole position he then claimed a comfortable race victory in the season opener and, on a reverse grid format in race two, he guided the 550bhp V8 Lola into third place.

Quaife-Hobbs only agreed to race on the Thursday and was thrilled to have tasted victory just days later. He will now contest the remaining six rounds, with the next race being at Valencia on April 1.

He said: "In the first race, I really didn’t have any idea how it would be starting in this car, as we naturally hadn’t had any time to test that prior to the race, but I made a perfect start to hold the lead into turn one.

"I managed to break the tow early on and build up a 2.5 second lead over the first three laps. However on the fourth lap, the gearbox problem we suffered earlier returned, which meant I was losing time in the first sector as I couldn’t change up quickly from first to second gear. So I had to really push hard on the rest of the lap to keep the advantage.

"Race two was far more eventful. I got a good start to hold position but didn’t have quite the same pace as I had the rest of the weekend.

"The team did a great job in the pit stop, changing the tyres very quickly, however we were in a train of five cars and all came in together. I had to be careful not to collide with them when we rejoined so we lost a little bit of time coming out.

"Despite that we were in a good position to be challenging for a podium finish and when a few cars ahead of me collided, I was in the right place to pick my way through and get third place. All in all it was a really good points haul and I’m very happy with the weekend and to be leading the championship."