Foster-Jones Denied Podium At WSK Opener

press release

An over-optimistic last-lap manoeuvre denied Robert Foster-Jones a certain podium finish at the opening round of the Winning Series Karting [WSK] Championship at La Conca, Italy yesterday (16 March).

It capped an incident-filled weekend for the Winter Cup winner, who repeatedly delivered inspired performances after a poor Timed Qualifying. The 17-year old had been off the pace by 4 tenths of a second and found himself down in 29th place overall (out of 84 competitors).

pic - Chris Walker, Kartpix

With four elimination heats to come through, the Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver had it all to do if he was going to qualify up the grid for the Pre-Final. The safest place at the start of a race is invariably at the front, as a mid-grid position always places a driver in the ‘hot-spot’ - where carnage at the first corner occurs – and Rob was right in it. As expected, chaos ensued - but he was able to thread his way through the scattered karts and power his way up to 7th at the flag.

Buoyed by this, his next race was even better. The Essex teenager put in a brilliant drive to take 4th place, which then became 3rd when a driver was disqualified. He was now on a roll and his performance in the next heat, produced congratulatory texts to dad, Gary’s mobile phone. Starting in 12th place, Robert picked his way through the traffic to catch the leader Petri Suvanto (FIN) and finished just 4 1/1000ths of a second away from snatching victory.

A spectacular crash in the 4th heat saw Rob fall to last, before tigering his way back up to 10th and setting the fastest lap of the race. Finishing in 7th place or higher would have been good enough for 5th spot on the grid for the Pre-Final and out of the danger zone. As it was, he would start from 8th and on the outside line for the first corner.

In every race La Conca’s tight first corner and following hairpin had produced accidents, and as the tension mounted the crashes showed no signs of abating. As the pack hurtled into the first corner, Foster-Jones found himself knocked back to 15th, and again having to fight his way back up the order. He finished in 6th place, only denied a higher position by the chequered flag.

As the starter flicked the lights to green to start the Final, Robert managed to avoid any dramas and hold his position through the opening lap’s bends. Unfortunately the talented, but excitable, Japanese Ishiyama Gaku tried a “banzai” move that forced Rob wide and cost him time. Having lost ground, he clawed his way back up to the leading pack and moved his way into 4th. Rob takes up the story: “I was able to take [Paolo] De Conto for 3rd and then [Jack] Harvey for 2nd. Jack has a lot of racing experience and I thought, he’ll just sit behind me and wait, we’ll catch the leader and then go for it in the closing laps – but he didn’t. He launched a move and we started to fight for position. I re-passed him and was in 3rd on the last lap. We were just 6 corners from the chequered flag and Jack ran into the back of me. Luckily, I had nearly four seconds over the next man and was able to finish fourth and take valuable points.”

Despite his obvious disappointment, Foster-Jones has taken valuable points and sits 4th in the Championship table. With five rounds remaining, he’s confident that he can build on his performance and challenge for wins and overall victory in the series: “I had the pace to win and championships aren’t won at the first race. A trophy would’ve been a great reward for the team’s efforts all weekend but I’ll do my best to sort that out, sooner rather than later.”

Home