Promising Australian Debut For DR Kart

Round two of the CIK Stars of Karting series marked the debut of Danilo Rossi's DR Kart in Australia. Jordie Lindstrom and Lee Mitchener campaigned the Italian-made machines in the Pro Gearbox KZ2 class.

Above: Lee Mitchener (left) and Jordie Lindstrom with their new DR Karts at Ipswich recently
pic - photowagon.com.au

Without getting a chance to test the new karts before the event, the duo was behind the eight-ball from the outset. Turning a wheel for the first time in Friday's opening practice, the two completed just over 30 laps each before racing commenced.

Each outing saw the karts get faster and faster as they searched for setup. Ultimately, both drivers were very happy with their results.

Jordie’s weekend began with a solid qualifying effort. This set up a progressive run to front for the rest of the weekend. Heat races saw Jordie progress through the field well enough to start inside the top five for Final One, however a misjudgment of the start in heat three and Jordie was handed a five position penalty for jumping the start. Final One was both promising and disappointing. Jordie ran fourth for majority of the race, racing hard with Kyle Ensbey as the two pushed hard to chase down Troy Woolston, however with just 8 laps remaining, Jordie’s spark plug cap came off his Maxter engine, ending his strong run to the flag.

Final Two presented very similar performance with a great run and hard fought battle with Matt Wall, Kyle Ensbey, Jason Pringle and team mate Lee Mitchener who were all fighting for third position in a chaotic race-long battle. Jordie in the end crossed the line in 5th position.

“My weekend was very consistent and solid" Lindstrom said. "I feel we can gain significant time after completing a few setup test days before the next round. We had realistic goals coming into this event of achieving fast laps and to race in the top five. We certainly achieved that goal. We will now work hard in testing and certainly learn the best setup for the karts which have proven to be very responsive and positive to changes. We also hope to gain more performance from our motors at Eastern Creek which should suit the Maxter motor more than Ipswich.”

Above: Some front-end detail of the KZ2 DR Kart
pic - photowagon.com.au

Lee Mitchener's campaign in Ipswich was also a progressive run. Lee was fast straight out of the box and was unlucky not to record a much better result. Lee progressed well through the heat races showing some great speed. Final One for Lee was halted early after he was blacked flag for problems with his radiator. Starting from the rear in Final Two, Lee was caught up in the chaos at the beginning the race and had to come from behind to the cross the line just ahead of team mate Jordie Lindstrom. Throughout the duration of the race, Lee consistently put down fast lap times that would arguably have had him challenging the front runners. “The karts were super responsive to changes and very noticeable on the track making them very user friendly for us. I think after some testing in between rounds, we would expect to be challenging for top spot on the podium at Eastern Creek” he said.

The team is planing a full test day prior to round three of the series.

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