FRANKIE Wainman Junior may not have won a final on tarmac this season, but it hasn’t dented the holder’s confidence ahead of the BRISCA F1 Stock Car World Championship in Ipswich on Saturday night.

After all, the Silsden superstar is the most experienced driver on the grid at Foxhall Stadium, making his 28th world final appearance.

Wainman Jnr finished third in his world semi-final at Stoke last month, hindered by two buckled wheels, and will start on the outside of the fourth row of the 34-car grid, directly behind the first overseas seeded row.

But the 45-year-old three-time world champion still believes he has the car to win the race.

“We’ve been working with the car quite a lot the last few meetings,” said Wainman Jnr. “The results aren’t there, but the car has felt really good.

“It was one of the quickest cars at the tarmac track at Birmingham three weeks ago but I just didn’t get the luck.”

He added: “We’re doing a lot of work on it still – steelwork, wiring – and I’m hoping to have it all repainted in time for the world final.

“My plan is to get my transporter done, which is being renovated, my car done and my son Frankie’s car ready before the world final – but they’re all in bits!

“So we’re happy with the mechanical side of it and I’m happy-ish with where I’m starting, but I’d rather be on the second row inside.”

Asked if he thought odds-on favourite, European champion Nigel Green, who is in pole position, could take a flag-to-flag victory, Wainman Jnr was adamant that that would not be the case.

“I know for definite that there’s not a chance on this planet that Nigel will drive off into the sunset,” he said.

“Come to think about it, maybe I’m in a better position where I am on the grid, because it could all kick off with those three at the front straight away, and if it does kick off and I’d started on the second row, I would have been involved with them.”

One of those likely to be in the thick of the action is National Points Shootout leader Stuart Smith Jnr, who starts on the outside of the second row.

Venray World Cup winner Ryan Harrison, who lines up on the inside of row four alongside Wainman Jnr, suggested in a recent interview that Smith Jnr should have taken Green out in the semi-final at Skegness rather than stay behind him to finish second so as to remove a major threat.

But Wainman Jnr doesn’t go along with that view, saying: “I don’t know. If you do that to somebody in a semi-final it’s a little bit personal. It would have been a bit below the belt.

“If it’s in the world final then yes, definitely you would. If you are battling for the lead – it’s the world final, but I watched the race and if it had been me I wouldn’t have done it either.

“The fans want to see everybody in the world final, don’t they? And if Stuart had stuck Nigel into a parked car in the semi-final, Nigel would have dealt with Stuart for the rest of the season.”

The world final features three Wainmans for the first time.

Brother Danny starts the race on the outside of row 13, while son Frankie Jnr Jnr competes in his first world final on the outside of row 14.

Watching the Skegness semi-final where Frankie Jnr Jnr finished tenth to grab the last guaranteed slot was a nerve-wracking experience.

“I could hardly watch,” said Wainman Jnr. “I don’t think I’ve been so nervous watching a stock car race in my life. I’m chuffed to bits with him.”