KNARESBOROUGH'S Darren Manning, the newest recruit to the CART FedEx Championship Series, was thrilled by the most demanding race of his career as he debuted with a top-ten finish in the Sure for Men Rockingham 500 held at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

Team St George, the first all-England Champ Car team, was put together especially for the UK round of the series and with Manning on board the team turned in a stunning performance which included Manning leading two periods of the race.

And after the fastest 211 laps of his life, he finished in ninth place.

"It's absolutely brilliant," said Manning after the two-hour 500-kilometre race.

"I always said that finishing in the top ten would be awesome and I just hope that this has done enough to catch the attention of a few of the other teams in the pit lane, as I'd love to be a regular driver in this great series."

Manning, starting in 17th place, ran cleanly in the race, with only pit stop delays putting him out of contention for a top five finish.

He proved himself with several brave overtaking manoeuvres and battled closely with some of the leading names in Champ Cars, although he later admitted to having a couple of 'big moments' when he came too close to the concrete wall.

"I had a big slide going into turn two and I thought my race was over. Happily it was okay. There's two very dark tyre paths now though - I left my mark."

With a race weekend packed with media attention and autograph hunters, Manning gave the home crowd plenty of opportunity to cheer.

He enthused: "This has been the most fantastic experience and it's going to take a while to sink in as to just what I have achieved.

"I'm on cloud nine."

The Sure for Men Rockingham 500 race was won by Scotland's Dario Franchitti, who celebrated his first victory in the CART FedEx Championship Series.

Series leader, Cristiano da Matta, finished second with Canadian driver, Patrick Carpentier, in third place.

Updated: 11:47 Monday, September 16, 2002