Savva Solonchenko – ‘A man can dream’
- Joseph Black
- October 22, 2026
- Motorsport, Team Radio
- 0 Comments
Teamsport for the first time at 12. Only 3 days to mentally prepare for his car racing debut at 14. ‘Certainly a dive into the deep end’ claims Savva Solonchenko. And who can disagree.
The 2025 Ginetta Junior Championship saw talents like Rocco Coronel, Scott Kin Lindblom and Ethan Lennon who have already been on Formula 4 podiums within a year of competing. The November Winter Series, which Savva competed in, had British F4 race winner Jarrett Clark down in 4th in the standings. High expectations and levels, then, especially with the late notice he had to compete.
He has found more comfortability and consistency this season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Challenge, taking 2 class wins on his way to 9th in the rookie standings despite missing the final round at Oulton Park and being plagued with car issues. He also picked up the championship overtake accolade, an award that can be attributed to his time in casual karting.
“I started in the Teamsport rentals,” He told me on the Team Radio Podcast. “I think that has helped me quite a lot. You can’t really overtake, can you? It’s just been about finding that space. I’ve always been strong on opening laps and hard to overtake situations.”
Savva then competed in individual rounds such as the Whilton Mill Kart Championship where he popped in for round 5, but it wasn’t until 2025 where he completed a full championship. And it would be back at familiar stomping grounds as he did all but the last two rounds of the WMKC (where two drop rounds are factored in so he had his full points complement) and took 27th in a 113 driver standing.
Another staple was ticked off with 22nd in a part time campaign in the Shenington Kart Racing Club and a few more rounds elsewhere were interweaved as he continued on the progression pathway.
“I think Britain has a reputation for having very aggressive drivers and that really does help you develop. I think that’s why Britain has some of the best racing drivers in the world.
“It’s so incredibly competitive.”
And not necessarily the most productive either.
“It’s just so physical. [] At tracks like PF (Paul Fletcher International, more affectionately known as PFi) with a lot of very high speed corners your neck is just gone. And it’s not something that you experience in any racecar really.” Solonchenko, who has spent a lot of time in and around motorsport paddocks with well known drivers like the ones mentioned in the heading, is speaking from not only his experience but plenty others.
Credit: kartpfi.com
A lot has been and will always be said about the physicality of karting, and there is an increasing number of people who claim the challenges to not be worth it and opting for sim racing instead. It has been known for an incredibly long time as the only way to go, the surefire way to get into single seaters, but that landscape is changing.
As is the car racing landscape when it comes to the circuits being utilised. There is a dramatic increase in street circuits over the last ten years, as it makes more sense from a logistical standpoint to invest in a race with a temporary setup than create a brand new or maintain an existing racing environment which only very occasionally profits. And this change? Well, Savva certainly thinks it’s up his alley.
“I want to drive Monaco, Macau and Jeddah.” Two classic street tracks, and one which – despite not being a street track – has clearly taken heavy inspiration from the challenges presented to the drivers. “There’s something about street tracks that just calls to me. [] It’s just something about how precise you have to be, being up against the walls. Just those margins [for] error.”
There’s certainly something to be said for the adrenaline rush it can give a driver. The natural ‘racer’s instinct’ is one of a thrill seeking lunatic who may well see risk as a reward, and a street track perfectly encapsulates that desire in a racing world where the definition of the word is changing.
For the second half of the year, karting was not the main focus for Savva as he spent a lot of time out on track in Ginetta Junior machinery with both Pace Performance and Elite Motorsport. Time spent getting ready to sign with MDD Racing, who were off the back of taking George Proudford-Nalder to 7th in the standings, for the Winter Series.
Credit: savva_does_racing
A tricky time in his first car championship – as to be expected, especially with mechanical problems factored in – but he was not demotivated, and signed with Race Car Consultants for the 2026 Fiesta Junior season.
He’s definitely still learning, and a series like the one he spent this year in is geared for just that. The aim for them is to be an accessible series for 14-17 year-old racers with a ‘long history of helping young drivers develop and move onto great success as they step into senior racing categories’. He can, and does, attest to this, after almost a full season where he ended up 24th after missing the last two rounds at Silverstone and Oulton Park.
But he does not want to stay in the Fords forever. Where he heads is as yet unclear, but his overarching goal is very much so.
“The dream is to make money from racing. There’s lots of kind of pro drivers which are doing some series, coaching – and kind of not here and not there. But that’s not something I really would want to do. If I’m going to be spending the rest of my life racing I want to be a real pro driver. So GT World (Challenge), WEC – I think F1’s off the cards for me but obviously a man can dream.”
And that man that dreams was once a boy who dreamed. And some would say he still is. But there is a level of maturity that has had to be developed being the main contact between himself, sponsors, the media and the like, as the only person in his family able to communicate effectively. It can be hard to remember that this is a driver who’s GCSEs are still yet to be completed, and it will impact his plans for 2027.
“That’s the priority honestly for my family and myself. Motorsports is a very unpredictable thing. You want to have a strong academic base which you can fall back on if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out.
“I don’t think I’ll be doing the first half of next year, so it will be a testing programme and then hopping in for the second half of a championship and there we’re looking between certain F4 options and GT4 options.”
But there is still plenty on the table for Savva. He spent a weekend at Brands Hatch with a team that competes in the British Touring Car Championship and the Mini Challenge UK (no prizes for guessing which!) and that would be a more likely path for those who expect conventionality. But some drivers escape the bounds of what is considered ‘normal’, and one of the attributes needed to escape the well trodden routes? Being a dreamer.
“I have a bucketlist of stuff I want to do in my life [] as a particular event it comes down to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. Between those it’s a very hard decision. You get a very nice watch for winning Daytona so I’m slightly tempted by that!
“I think it’s got to be a tie, either Daytona or Le Mans. They’re the two greatest events in the world.”
Why not aim for the top?
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