Four FWT Podiums for Ocala Gran Prix Team

press release

The Ocala Gran Prix/Tony Kart race team had another terrific weekend at this past weekend’s second round of Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour. With the event taking place at the Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Florida, Ocala Gran Prix and their crew of five drivers were able to take home two pole position awards and four podiums including a double victory in the Pro Rotax category.

Above: Nick Neri celebrates victory in Pro Rotax by letting go of every control of his kart!

Leading the way for the Ocala Gran Prix team was junior hotshoe Nick Neri who was the class of the Pro Rotax field. Neri was one of the quickest drivers from Friday afternoon’s test sessions as he worked with tuner Race Tech Development’s Mike Maurini. The duo managed to score a perfect weekend taking home two pole positions, two heat race wins and two main event victories. With the outstanding performance, Neri takes over the point lead in the series as well as continues to lead the Rotax Junior class where he will participate in next weekend.

Joining Neri on the podium both days in Pro Rotax was Brazilian national champion Nicolas Costa. The talented driver managed to fight off a talent filled field to take home a strong second and third place results. Costa would also be one of the fastest competitors in the field as he and Neri would be on Ocala Gran Prix powered Tony Karts.

Rob Maier would have an action filled weekend as the TaG Masters driver would not have a chance for Saturday’s win due to a first corner incident. Maier would be back on track on Sunday and would qualify in the second position and take home a solid top five as he finished fourth in the main event.

Above: Nicolas Costa

Ocala Gran Prix would enter two drivers in the Vortex TaG Cadet class in Ashley Rogero and Mathias Ramirez. Rogero showed great speed throughout the event weekend as she ran at the front of the field on both days. Saturday’s last lap action while leading caused her to finish in the eighth position but the young Floridian rebounded to finish a solid fourth on Sunday after starting at the tail of the field. Ramirez would show consistent improvement throughout the race weekend as he continues to work with the Ocala Gran Prix team. The seven year old driver would finish thirteenth in both Saturday and Sunday’s action and will be back this coming weekend in the Rotax divisions.

The Ocala Gran Prix crew would like to extend an extra special thank-you to the post race technical inspection crew for their work at this past weekend’s events. With rumors and speculation that OGP motors were illegal due to the success in 2010 events, the tech team worked diligently after the main event to take some of the motors completely apart to ensure legality and all were compliant.

“The team did another outstanding job again this weekend,” stated OGP President Jorge Arellano. “From all of our tuners including Nate Grindell, Mario Ioffredo, Kyle Kraus, Mike Maurini and Martijn Koene from Koene Racing, we have had some great success in 2010. Our whole goal is to win races and score podiums and we are doing that at the Florida Winter Tour.”

Ocala Gran Prix will now shift their focus to the Rotax round of the Florida Winter Tour next weekend. With a sixteen drivers and talent under the team tent, OGP will work to ensure results are plentiful as they continue to build their operation. Competing with the Ocala Gran Prix crew this coming weekend will be Rotax Senior driver Nicolas Costa, Jean Claude Marques Paturle, DD2 pilot Cody Hodgson, Masters drivers Jason Bell, Andre Martins, Eduardo Martins and Rob Maier, Rotax Junior competitors Tristan Nunez, Nick Neri, Andrew Evans and Jack West as well as Mini Max competitors Ashley Rogero, Sebastian Sierra and Brendan Baker while Mathias Ramirez will enter Micro Max.

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