IFR Team Rookies Romp To Victory

press release

Two season newcomers to the Intrepid Force Rotax team have continued their impressive start to the 2010 season with the Austrian-based team, completely dominating the competition at the first round of the Central European Zone (CEZ) Karting Trophy over the weekend in Hungary.

Above: Intrepid Force Rotax winners in Hungary

Following their recent success to be running inside the top 10 at the Rotax Euro Challenge in France, Senior Max driver Ferenc Kancsár and team mate Stefan Locsmandi in Junior Max, were quick from the word go when their Intrepid karts hit the fast 935m Kecskemét circuit for Friday practice. Both drivers consequently topped the time sheets in qualifying to start on pole position for the first race on the program in their respective classes. It was almost as if the young IFR rookies couldn’t put a foot wrong, leading from the beginning of each race and never faltering.

The afternoon races again saw 15-year old Kancsár as the former Junior champ in the CEZ, make a confident stance to take maximum points in the opening round of the 4-event series, while his 14-year old IFR buddy Locsmandi did likewise. Although the grid numbers were down from last year’s line-up due to a conflicting local meeting, the level of the rival drivers and laptimes that exceeded the 2009 records, clearly showed the undeniable supremacy the pair displayed. They each set the best lap overall for race 1 and 2, pushing all the way in the finals to hold a comfortable lead of between 6 to 7.5 seconds by the chequered flag.

Above: Ferenc Kancsár

According to the IFR team chief technician Steve Chapman, both drivers were more than deserving of the great results achieved against some very good drivers in the field, It’s been a fantastic weekend for our boys here in Hungary, who not only won because of having the best equipment we could provide for them from our partners Intrepid and HRS, but also due to the combined effort and hard work they’ve done together with their mechanics Istvan and Mike. We made the most of every session to do the groundwork and got through a lot of valuable testing leading up to when it counted. On behalf of our team, I want to congratulate Ferenc and Stefan on a job well done; they really drove well and stayed focused to make this all possible!

The track-time and preparation will no doubt prove to be an advantage for the duo as they join their fellow IFR team mates for the round 1 of the German-Austrian Rotax Max Challenge this weekend at the famous Michael Schumacher complex, Kerpen. However, it is Hungary’s Pannoniaring that will play host to the next event on the CEZ international race calendar on May 22-23.

Above: Stefan Locsmandi

 

CEZ – Driver Quotes

Ferenc Kancsár – Rotax Senior Max
I’m really happy with the weekend, as I came here to try to make the result the best that I could and it is! The track was a bit slippery today with not so much grip, but fortunately I could make the quickest time to qualify on pole in my 4th lap. I had a really good start in both races and was able to lead the entire race. Thanks to my team for the perfect material and to my mechanic Istvan for doing a great job with the kart.

Stefan Locsmandi – Rotax Junior Max
Of course, I’m also very happy with the results this weekend. Qualifying was good with the track improving since yesterday. In the first race, the start could have been better for me, but for the whole race I was able to be fast anyway. In race 2, I had a much better start and made a gap of more than seven seconds to the next driver. The circuit was quite good with lots of places to overtake. I’d like to say thanks to my team for the best material and Mike as my mechanic for all his help throughout the weekend. It was great!

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