Sera Wins Florida Winter Tour - And books Trip to World Finals

press release

Rounds five and six of the Florida Winter Tour took place at Ocala Raceway, Ocala, USA on the 26th-27th March 2011. Arrow Racing Karts driver David Sera walked away with two podium positions to claim the coveted Florida Winter Tour Championship in the highly competitive Rotax Senior class.

Sera has now booked himself a trip to the Rotax World Finals to be held in Al Ain, UAE, later this year, the same track on which he qualified fastest in the 2007 world title.

‘I am really looking forward to getting back to Al Ain in November and competing against the best drivers in the world. Hopefully I can replicate the speed I had there last time where I was able to win a couple of heat races’ said Sera.

With qualifying held on Friday afternoon in sunny Florida, the Monster Energy driver posted the fifth fastest time for Sunday’s race, and the third fastest time for Saturday’s race.

As Saturday’s first final got underway, Sera made a clean start and found his way into the lead by the end of the second lap. After leading for a few laps, Sera could not match the speed of his rivals as he tumbled down the order to finish in sixth position with his championship rivals Marco Di Leo and Danny Formal finishing first and fourth respectively.

At the start of Saturdays main event, Sera got tangled up with another competitor in the approach to turn one, forcing him back to tenth position at the completion of lap one. With a championship on the line, and plenty to race for, the Arrow driver meticulously worked his way past his competitors to cross the line in fourth position and gain valuable points to continue to lead the points chase. With Di Leo winning Saturdays final, this rapidly closed the gap to Sera as his other rival Formal was forced to the sidelines with a mechanical failure. ‘Today was a tough day, we didn’t have a fast enough kart to win the race, and an early race incident put us behind the eight-ball from the beginning. We still hold a slender lead in the championship; hopefully we have more luck tomorrow.’

Having made some dramatic changes overnight to his Arrow Kart, Sera found some confidence after the Sunday’s morning warm up session. Starting from grid position five and Di Leo from grid three, Sera knew that he had to track his rival to maintain his championship lead. After another first corner skirmish, the Melbournian trekked through the grass to drop back to fourteenth. Driving with a cool head, the 22 year old picked off drivers at will, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process to finish in fourth position in the 18 lap race.

With only one race left and one other driver in contention for the Florida Winter Tour, there was plenty at stake as the drivers took to the track. As Nick Neri cleared into the distance, Sera and Di Leo began switching positions, equally as hungry to take home the championship title. After a mid-race altercation between the two championship contenders, Sera gained a two kart advantage over the Canadian which Di Leo would be unable to close. With no real pressure being put on Sera, the factory Arrow driver found his way into second position late in the race to secure his first Florida Winter Tour Championship and earn the right to represent his country at the World Finals in November.

‘I am extremely happy to have won the Florida Winter Tour. Having competed against the best drivers from North and South America, as well as Indy Car drivers Dan Wheldon and Jay Howard I had my work cut out from Round One. Now my focus moves onto the latter half of the year where I will be making a return to Rotax Grand Finals and the SuperNats in Las Vegas.’

David would like to thank everyone at Arrow Karts, Monster Energy Drinks, Kart Sport North America, SKF Bearings, Bell Helmets and Alpinestars for their continued support. For more information about David Sera please visit www.davidsera.com

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