Camden Haven motorsport gun Cooper Barnes finishes in the top four at Phillip Island race

But it wasn't without a few bumps along the way - one of which sent him to the back of the grid for a non-compliant window mesh after his first qualifying heat.

The teenager had three heats at the track for two fourth-place finishes and a fifth, but it was his first-up performance that saw him relegated to 26^th place for the non-compliant window mesh.

Impressively he worked his way through the field while also registering the fastest time on the track.

"It was unfortunate he was given an infringement as his mesh did not pass the Victorian regulations so we had to frantically find an approved one for him to still compete in the other heats," mum Penny said.

"In the first heat by the end of the first lap he made his way through the field to 15th then to ninth and finished in fifth which was an absolute blast of a drive to get back to the front."

Barnes then had a fourth-place finish in his second heat before another fourth-place finish in the last heat despite coming third at one stage throughout the race.

"Our expectation for the weekend was going down to learn the track and wasn't to have any expectation on the results he came home with, so we are super proud of his results."

The following day the talented driver achieved a personal best time of 1.58.8055 where he fell just short of the circuit record which stands at 1.58.6798.

As he is only 15 years old, he still isn't allowed to race in New South Wales until he turns 16.

He will travel to Morgan Park in Queensland at the end of May for the second round of the X3 Series

In the first round in March he came ninth after seven months out of the car due to border closures.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: