No Result From Solid Effort By Lehane

A broken spark plug has ruined Pierce Lehane's fine run in the WSK Nationals Cup at La Conca, Italy, over the weekend.

After qualifying ninth, Lehane carded 8, 2, 4 and 3 in the heats, ranking him an excellent fourth in the 62-kart KF3 field. Pierce then experienced engine problems in the pre-final and fell to 17th. "My engine was missing" Pierce said. "After the race the engine techs found my fuel had water in it."


Above: Pierce Lehane #335 on the second row for the pre-final

A good start in the final saw the Australian moving though the field, up to 7th by lap 6 in the 16 lap race. "I was moving through the field, then I was driven over the top of, which broke the spark plug off and ended my race."

"The racing was very tough as the drivers are very aggressive and will try and go into the smallest hole hoping for the best, but resulting in lots of crashes.

"I have enjoyed my two weeks of racing in Europe and have managed to be on the podium once. I have gained a lot of experience and hope to do some more racing in Europe next year if I can find some sponsorship."


Above: The CRG data guy tapes up Pierce's gloves for a session in the rain

"Coming over to Italy and racing on the small 6.5 rear tyre is so different" Pierce's father Peter wrote on Kartbook (discusion thread HERE). "(fellow CRG driver) Max Verstappen was very fast. In the first session on the track on Thursday he was 1 second a lap faster than Pierce, but as we progressed through the meeting the gap was rapidly closing thanks to the engine and data engineers. In the warm up session on Sunday, Max Verstappen (who went on to win the final) was only 2 tenths quicker than Pierce, which I was very happy with."

Kyle Ensbey competed in KZ2, finishing 18th in his final after carding 23rd in the pre-final. Marco Ardigo won the race for Tony Kart with recent visitor to Australia, Roberto Toninelli, 2nd for Lenzo.

Results from the event can be found on www.wskarting.it (then click Nations Cup).


Above: Max Verstappen (CRG) leads Ocon Esteban (Intrepid), Fuoco Antonio (CRG) and Lehane (CRG)

lehane crg la conca
Above: Pierce (right) with fellow CRG driver Max Verstappen

lehane crg la conca
Above: Pierce with his pit crew - Euhen, a Maxter engine technician and the AIM micron data analyst.

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