Cooper Barnes achieves first motorsport podium finish at Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland

The teenager delivered consistent performances across three races at Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland on May 28 and 29 that saw him finish on the podium.

Barnes qualified fourth before he registered a fifth and two fourth-place race finishes to claim third overall on points after the weekend.

While still a 'newbie' to the track after only racing on it a handful of times before, mum Penny said it was an impressive weekend.

"Cooper drove so well and originally qualified fourth out of 39 competitors," she said.

"The top 15 cars were with in one-hundredth of a second so the field was very fast."

In the first race which covered eight laps, the Hastings youngster started in fourth before a missed gear change on the second lap saw him give up ground to slide to seventh.

He then made up ground to finish fifth.

In the second race on Sunday over seven laps, he kept up with all the frontrunners to finish fourth before an impressive showing in the third and final race.

"It was a 35-minute race and Cooper started in fourth and he moved into third before he was put off the track which sent him into eighth and then he worked hard to finish in fourth," Mrs Barnes said.

"We couldn't be more prouder as parents to see his results and even all the other drivers were complimenting him on his race craft.

In the overall points podium he finished third in the Excel series ahead of the next meeting on August 26-28.

"To finish on the podium after my fourth race meeting in the circuit excel series at Morgan Park was so surreal, it has been my goal to be at the front and to be now on a podium I couldn't be any happier," he said.

He is already looking forward to the next round.

"My focus will be to qualify good again and keep at the front and hope to be on the podium again," he said.

"My future races I will endeavour to push myself to be at the front and apply the ongoing Norwell driver training to each race meeting to get me there."

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