Preview: Australian Rotax Endurance Titles

press release

The 2008 Australian Rotax Endurance Titles is set to break all records with the largest field so far set to contend the 'Bathurst of Karting'. Past champions of the event and plenty of hopefuls will be doing battle to see who can wear the No 1 tag  of Australian Champion at Raleigh on June 22.

Above: Current TaG Endurance champ, Luke Wall

The race will also be a point scoring event for the IKD 2008 ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE, thus offering further incentive to drivers and their teams. Combine this also with $2000 prize money offered and the No 1 status, the pressure will be on.

Past event Champions like Luke Wall, Paul Timmins & defending Champion Paul Morandini in the Light division will be giving their all to retain or regain the No 1 standing. Heavy Division defending Champ Shane Bender will be forming a new team to help his attempt to retain his title. Past champs Affordable Palletts team of Dave Mitchell and Paul Croft will again look to their guru pit manager Sam Heliou for guidance  in their attempt.

Doing battle with these past champs will be the “guns” of today’s sprint world, names such as Troy Hunt, multiple Australian Sprint Champion, will team up with Dave Whitmore current Aussie No1, to be a formidable team in the Heavy Division.

International Rotax Driver and Aussie Champ Steel Guilliana will pit his skills in the Light division. Long time V8 Supercar driver Glenn Seton will also be getting in some endurance training ready for his supercar endurance events. Adam Clarke is reportedly champing at the bit to get amongst these names and with his team mate Brian Callaghan will be a team to watch. Making a return to Endurance racing is the Joel Allingham/John Dwyer team who will be keen to make their presence felt, with Allingham especially getting some good results in the sprint world.

This year’s event is already shaping up to be one of the best so far with quality drivers and teams filling the grid. Combine this with some major changes to the event from past years such as more laps (up from 250 to 275), compulsory tyre change plus driver restrictions, past proven strategies will have to be tweaked to accommodate these changes.

Pit crews will become more involved and thus the pressure in the pits may throw up some shocks, again adding to the “uncertainty” of endurance racing, mental, physical, time pressures all combining to flush out the weaker teams.

The event will be run over the weekend 21/22 June at the Raleigh International Raceway on the North Coast of NSW.

Practice and team qualifying on Saturday with the Great Race on Sunday. Entries are still open, but available pit spaces are filling fast.

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