Irish Karter Qualifies For Euro Championships

press release 

Irish kart racer Robert Butler's change of team appears to have paid off after he comfortably qualified for the European Championship Finals after the qualifier in Spain last weekend.

Now racing for the Dutch-based PDB Racing team on a Gillard kart, Robert was fast as soon as he arrived at the new Alcaniz circuit and went on to post second fastest lap in timed qualifying under the supervision of mechanic Jarlath Keary.

In the heat races he was consistently at the front, winning a heat after fighting off reigning Junior champion Jack Harvey, taking second in another and scoring solid top tens in the remaining two. This put Robert on grid two for the first of the two Final races.

Unfortunately there was trouble at the start, leaving Robert with a bent steering assembly. He dropped down to eighth after this and eventually nursed the kart home to 13th, knowing that the most important thing at this meeting was to finish in the top 24 drivers who would go through to the next round at Braga in Portugal. With 34 drivers on the track, 13th would almost guarantee him entry if he could finish higher than last in the next one.

With everything fixed for the next race and a gearing adjustment to give him more speed coming out of the corners, Robert aimed to make up places and after fighting in midfield for much of the 15-lap race he managed to break away and move up through the rankings. Taking two competitors on the final lap alone, Robert finished seventh, also finishing seventh when the two results were aggregated.

The slate will now be wiped clean for the European Final in Portugal in three weeks and Robert will arrive as the top Irish contender in an unusually strong field drawn from all over Europe.

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