Joyner Takes LH Kart To Victory In Macau
Tweet| 24 October 2012 |
press release
The weekend in Macau ended with an awesome result for CRG Group. The young British champion Tom Joyner, on a LH chassis designed by Lewis Hamilton powered by a BMB by KVS engine, routed his rivals in the kart GP on the island of the Popular Republic of China, valid as second and last round of the CIK-FIA World KF1 Championship. In fact, the driver from Braintree, few kilometres away from London, achieved a resounding "hat-trick" adding to his double-win in the two Saturday's finals the further double-win in the two Sunday's finals.
Above: Tom Joyner (LH) leads Felice Tiene (CRG)
pic - CRG SpA
HE IS THE RUNNER-UP OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP. CRG missed the title by a hair's breadth; the championship went to the Italian Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart-Vortex), who in Macau managed to win the championship thanks to his victories in the first round of Suzuka. Anyway, eventually for CRG there were the good results achieved by Tom Joyner (the runner-up 16 points behind) and Felice Tiene, third with a 24-point gap.
However, the great performing qualities of the CRGequipment were clearly showed by the 5 CRG drivers in the first 8 places, with Jordon Lennox-Lamb fifth in the championship, Davide Forè sixth and Max Verstappen eighth. Also Eddy Tinini's position (13th) is excellent: he was the brilliant protagonist of the two Sunday's finals.
pic - CRG SpA
JOYNER'S "FOUR OF A KIND". On the winding circuit of Macau, where the 2009 World Championship took place in 2009 - won by CRG-, the result for the Italian factory was once again very significant thanks to the "four of a kind" achieved by Tom Joyner, athis second season in CRG and, from this year, running for the satellite team LH RACING managed by Richard Kaell Franchini.
“The weekend was perfect - said Tom Joyner - I didn't figure out I could win all the four finals. We had no pressure for winning, so we were able to focus on the technical aspect of the race and particularly on the setup for a correct tyre management. After the first two successes on Saturday, I didn't think I could get to four wins. It was fantastic. In the last race I followed Felice Tiene closely - he is much more experienced than me. But in the last laps I realized my tyres were still in excellent condition and I attacked and won. Everything was perfect and I want to say thank you to the team for having put at my disposal a fantastic chassis and a fantastic engine, besides Tinini Group and the KVS engineers. I think next year I will continue my experience in KF, but I might try to make my debut in KZ."
pic - CRG SpA
TIENE'S DISAPPOINTMENT. In the two finals on Sunday, Felice Tiene completed the podium for CRG on both the occasions: third in Final-3 and second in Final-4. "We were all very fast during thisweekend too - pointed out Felice Tiene - but I'm a bit disappointed for the crash I had on Saturday in Final-1, where my chassis got damaged. This event didn't allow me to be at the top in the other two finals. That accident spoilt my whole weekend and, consequently, the whole championship: for me there were all the makings for a victory in this championship too after winning the KF2 world cup in Zuera. We had a wonderful season; it has been getting better and better, and I'm really sorry for not getting this last world title right at the end of the season."
THE OTHER PROTAGONISTS FOR CRG
Jordon Lennox-Lamb, on CRG-Bmb, finished the championship fifth thanks to the podium in race-2 achieved on Saturday. In the two Sunday's finals Lennox placed 4th in race-3 behind Tiene, but then, in race-4, he had some troubles with his tyres and was forced to pullover.
Davide Forè (CRG-Bmb) finished sixth. In race-3, on Sunday, he was slowed down by an accident at the start. He redeemed himself in the last final, when he recovered many positions starting from the back rows of the grid and finishing seventh, even though because of Saturday's accident he stood no chance to battle for the championship.
Max Verstappen (CRG-Tm) was a bit unlucky in the two Sunday's finals. He clinched an excellent second place in race-1 on Saturday, but in race-3, on Sunday, after crossing the finishing line in third position he was hit by a ten-second penalty for a jump-start. In race-4, then, he had to stop for a starter failure.
Eddy Tinini's championship was a crescendo. On his CRG-Bmb, after recording an excellent fourth time in the Sunday's time trials, he managed - with great satisfaction - to enter the top ten of Macau, achieving a double 9th place in the last two finals. These results allowed him to place 13th in the final ranking of the championship.
Euan Jeffery, CRG team manager: “Excellent weekend for CRG in this last round of the World KF1 Championship here in Macau. We just missed the title, but we are really happy for the second and third place of Joyner andTiene. All our drivers were really good, especially Tom Joyner, who won all the four races. In all the finals, anyway, our drivers were always in the leading positions, and this is really important for us because it means that the competitiveness of our equipment is confirmed. This is the end of a beautiful season: we won the KZ2 World Cup, the KF2 World Cup, the KZ1 European Championship, the KZ2 WSK Master, the WSK Euro Series in KF3 and KZ1.That's really a great streak of successes. I want to say thank you to the whole team, the drivers, the mechanics, the KVS and Maxter engineers for their cooperation which allowed us to achieve all this."
ASIAN-PACIFIC KF3 CHAMPIONSHIP
Concurrently with the KF1 World Championship in Macau, the single round of the Asian-Pacific KF3 Championship took place. The victory went to the Indian Jehan Daruvala (Kosmic-Vortex-Vega) who preceded the twoJapanese drivers Sato Marino (Maddox-Parilla) and Joe Ishida (Kosmic-Vortex). The young driver from Hong Kong, Jacky Chan Cheuk Hin (CRG-Bmb) placed fourth at the end of a beautiful race.
THE FINALS OF THE SECOND ROUND OF HE WORLD KF1 CHAMPIONSHIP IN MACAU
FINAL-1
1. Tom Joyner (LH/Bmb/Bridgestone)
2. Max Verstappen (CRG/Tm/Bridgestone)
3. Pedro Hiltbrand (FA Kart/Vortex/Bridgestone)
FINAL-2
1. Tom Joyner (LH/Bmb/Bridgestone)
2. Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart/Vortex/Bridgestone)
3. Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG/Bmb/Bridgestone)
FINAL-3
1. Tom Joyner (LH/Bmb/Bridgestone)
2. Ben Hanley (Art GP/Tm/Bridgestone)
3. Felice Tiene(CRG/Bmb/Bridgestone)
FINAL-4
1. Tom Joyner (LH/Bmb/Bridgestone)
2. Felice Tiene(CRG/Bmb/Bridgestone)
3. Karol Basz (Birel/Parilla/Bridgestone)
THE FINAL RANKING OF THE WORLD KF1 CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Camponeschi punts 119; 2. Joyner 103; 3. Tiene 95; 4. Sasaki 88; 5. Lennox 68; 6. Forè 65; 7. Basz 64; 8. Verstappen 52; 9. Hanley 42; 10. Hiltbrand 40; 11. Kasai 39; 12. Chang Wing Chung 24; 13. Tinini 22; 14. Philo 21; 15. Graham 18.
