The 32-year-old racer leads the Championship by a point in his Fisher Fury car after three wins and a second place in races at Mallory Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch and two at Lydden Hill.

And when you consider he was forced to miss one of the races because of a prior engagement, you can understand how his fellow racers do not hold out much hope.

The former Formula Ford Champion said: "We had terrible problems with reliability last year which made the season a disaster, but we have changed our mechanic and we seem to have sorted things out.

"The handling of the car is absolutely unbelievable at the moment. The mechanics have set it up using my experience in Formula Ford.

"The problems we had last year with reliability mean we are obviously a little cautious about making any predictions but to be honest, unless we have a problem there is no excuse for finishing outside the top two.

"Now we have the reliability, there is no reason why we should not win the title."

Andy, who is himself a mechanic by trade and works at Queensway Autos, in Petts Wood, also holds lap records for kit-cars at Mallory Park, Brands Hatch and Cadwell Park racetracks.

His Fisher Fury car is built by Fisher Sportscars based in Marden, near Maidstone, and is owned and sponsored by Dartford-based company The Florida Collection, which sells luxury villas and apartments in Florida.

The Fury costs around £6,000 to build and boasts a 1700CC Ford engine which will reach 60mph in 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 150mph.

The car will be on shown at Fisher Sportscars' Open Day on Saturday at the firm's base on the Underlyn Industrial

Estate, along with other road-going Fisher Fury cars. Call Mark Fisher on 01622 832977 for further details.

Andy's next race is on Sunday, June 4, at Mallory Park.