Intrepid Force Rotax New From Euro Challenge

press release

The fourth and final round of the international Rotax championship that’s regarded by many as the most competitive series in its class worldwide, proved to be a competition to be reckoned with for the Intrepid Force Rotax drivers who travelled to the French Sologne Karting circuit.

In Seniors, Josh Hart made it into the history books as the only driver to take three consecutive pole positions in the Max class in one season and naturally was in a prime position to secure another podium. The IFR driver also had the chance to grace the championship podium as he did in 2008, with the title still undecided going into Sunday’s finals. However, it all began to unravel when an outside front row start resulted in Hart being overcautious in the early stages of the pre-final, claiming he was waiting for the crash that never actually happened. Delaying his move into the leading pack then missing the braking point on turn 2, the 23-year old found himself in the gravel with several others, before retiring into the pits to save his new tyres for the last race.

Above: Josh Hart
pic - Bas Kaligis

Starting from rear of field, the NZ driver was once again the quickest on the circuit in the final as he had been at round 3, in what was almost a repeat performance coming through to finish 10th across the line. It was not enough to maintain his 3rd place in the championship unfortunately, as Hart missed out on receiving his personal invitation to the Rotax Grand Finals by just four points. The Intrepid/HRS package had once again shown that the equipment was second to none, but the possible results eluded the Austrian team once more. The race was over for another year.

It was not the best of weekends for Niki Laa in Senior Max or Uniq Racing’s Karol Dabski, who was supported by IFR specifically with an Intrepid factory mechanic for the French event. Following Laa’s strong finish at the last round in the Czech Republic to end up one place behind Hart in the final, he had what he described as a “disappointing” meeting, as he struggled to find the appropriate set-up he was comfortable with to be fast. Like the Polish driver, Laa failed to qualify through to the finals Sunday afternoon, being eliminated in the second chance race.

Above: Niki Laa
pic - Bas Kaligis

Sitting on equal 3rd with Hart at the beginning of round 4, Dabski lacked the pace he needed to be up with the front-runners, which did seem to progress, though he admitted making some driving errors that cost him vital places. At 17 years, the young pole has been able to mix it with the best in the past 12 months at the Euro Challenge and impressed his rivals by taking pole position at the Rotax Winter Cup earlier in the season, but Salbris was not to be his strongest fight for the title.

Maxi Gunkel and Corinna Kamper made up the driver line-up in Junior Max, having some mixed results throughout the weekend after a poor showing in the qualifying. For various reasons, the times just weren’t sufficient to shine against some of the toughest little drivers Europe has to offer. Both were involved in some racing incidents that consequently left them having to battle the mid-to-lower order field in every race. This in itself is always detrimental when every place matters. It all counts for added experience, which is why the youngsters competed this year at the Euro and hopefully benefit from having a full grid of extremely close racing to contend with. Overall, Maxi was 20th in the 2009 championship standings and Corinna, who worked alongside IFR in the Uniq Racing awning at Sologne, finished 25th.

Taking an excellent 3rd place in the series, Kay van Kemenade racing for Intrepid’s Team TKP Holland, is another driver given some background support by IFR at the Euro Challenge. The 13-year old drove his heart out to top off his Rotax Winter Cup podium and two more he had during the championship, to match it with the current European and British junior champions.

Above: Ralph Odendaal
pic - Bas Kaligis

It was an interesting end to the event for Maxi Fleischmann in the Rotax DD2 class, suffering some niggling issues with the 2-speed engine power initially, then having a bit of bad luck in the racing which didn’t help his cause. The 15-year old consistently manage to improve his laptimes to be within half a second of the blistering pace that the newly crowned Euro champ Ralph Odendaal clocked in his Korridas Intrepid Kart, but unfortunately the IFR driver couldn’t break into the top 15. When the prizegiving ceremony revealed that Salbris round winner Denis Thum had taken the vice champion’s trophy, it automatically handed Maxi his place at the Grand Finals in Egypt in December as the national entry for the German Rotax Max Challenge, which Thum won the week before. As GRMC runner-up, Maxi is the next eligible to represent his country.

With another Euro run and won, Intrepid Force Rotax has already begun working towards making 2010 a winning year for them… We’ve enjoyed the racing and congratulate the winners.

To see the race results and IP-TV from the Salbris round of the Euro Challenge - plus the other Euro events form 2009, go to the SCHEDULES page at www.intrepidforcerotax.com and click on LIVETICKER or visit www.kart-data.com/LT09/

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