Rotax Winter Cup Double Podium for IFR

press release

For the second year in succession, Intrepid Force Rotax has taken the Rotax Winter Cup title at the Karting Campillos circuit in Spain by securing an outstanding double podium this time around in the Senior Max class. Ferenc Kancsár gave himself an early 16th Birthday present for next week when he become the 2011 champion Sunday, while his new IFR team-mate Mats van den Brand took a well-deserved 3rd place on his debut with the Austrian-based team.


Above: IFR Teamwork!
pic - Bas Kaligis/www.racexpress.com


Above: Team celebrations

IFR’s Ferenc Kancsár stole the show unquestionably when he proved to be virtually unbeatable at the 2011 season ice-breaker in Spain. The current Max world number 3 secured pole position in Friday’s qualifying, also taking the honours in two out of three heats, before easily winning the pre-final to start on P1 for the 28.5km title decider. He held the lead for the majority of the 18-lap race ahead of Dutch team-mate Mats van den Brand, until being passed in the closing stages by 2010 Euro Challenge round 4 winner Sean Babington.

Both drivers made a final dash for the line side-by-side after Kancsár waited for the ideal moment to make his move on the last corner leading onto the start-finish straight, where the British driver covered slightly as they approached the chequered flag. However, his efforts weren’t enough to savour the win and Kancsár claimed his maiden international title in the dual to the line that was split by a mere 0.001 seconds. It was additionally rewarding for the new Rotax Winter Cup champ when he received free entry for the entire 2011 Rotax Euro Challenge 4-round series.


Above: Ferenc Kancsár
pic - Bas Kaligis/www.racexpress.com

“In the beginning of the race it was quite controlled; Mats [van den Brand] and I had a good break ahead of the two Tonykart drivers [Antoine Barthon and Jake Ball], so I thought it could be an easy 1-2 result for us the way it was looking. A while later I checked over my shoulder again and saw Sean Babington behind Mats and knew he was obviously quick, but my engine temperature was going up slowly after there was a problem with the radiator, so I was also watching this. Sean passed me with a few laps to go so I worked out where I would try to pass him in the final lap. In the end, I wasn’t sure that I had even won because it was such a close finish across the line. It was a good race and a very good week for us here. Thanks must go to my mechanic, my team and everyone who supports me in my racing.”

Making his debut with IFR in Spain, the team’s most senior driver Mats Van den Brand took an excellent 3rd close behind the leaders, adding to his Rotax International Open vice champion result from last October and 3rd overall in the Euro Challenge the previous season. Still adapting to the change in both team and chassis this year, he finished with a P3 and 4 in the heats, posting the best lap in two out of three races including the last qualifier where he was involved an unavoidable collision following the start. Coming from row 6, Van den Brand showed his racing experience in the pre-final to take a confident 3rd position. He also received free entry to one round of the Euro Challenge from event organisers RGMMC.


Above: Mats Van den Brand
pic - Jenni Wade

“I’m really happy with the result, together with my team mate Ferenc Kancsár, we did a good job. After testing on Wednesday and Thursday, I never thought I would have a top 3 finish because we were still looking for the best set-up. I also had to come from p11 in pre-final. With a good running HRS engine and a good steering INTREPID chassis, I put myself into p3 for final. I wasn’t as fast in the final, but still finished well to be 3rd. I’m really looking forward to 2011 with IFR! I also want to say congrat’s to my team-mate Ferenc for winning this event and a big thanks to all my sponsors, IFR, VPD Racing, plus special thanks to William Allen my mechanic!”

Not having the same luck this weekend was IFR’s Stefan Riener, fresh from his 3rd place on the Under 18 World Championship podium at the final round in France in 2010. The 15-year old made his first appearance in the Senior Max class at the Rotax Winter Cup, hitting the front of the field in one of the qualifying heats to take the win with a best lap just short of race pace-setter Van den Brand, along with an impressive drive to finish on P3 in another of the heats. The Austrian started the pre-final on row three but was unfortunately the victim of a collision on turn 1 that saw him have to start from grid 23 in the final. He was consistently amongst the quickest on track with competitive laptimes to come through to finish 16th out of the 44 drivers in the class.


Above: Stefan Reiner
pic - Jenni Wade

In the Junior Max category, Dutch Champ Dave Blom narrowly missed out on pole position in Friday’s qualifying and is commended by the team for dedicating considerable time to testing through the winter break at the Campillos circuit in the lead-up to the event. He was joined by 13-year old Florian Janits, who progressed from Mini Max to international racing last week in Spain. The Austrian suffered from a race incident in the opening heat which damaged his kart, then due to a technical discrepancy, was unable to participate together with his team-mate after this. Both juniors are now preparing for round 1 of the Rotax Euro Challenge in late March.


Above: Dave Blom
pic - Bas Kaligis/www.racexpress.com

IFR Team Manager Ernst Penninger Jr. says ‘teamwork’ played a vital role in their success, “It was a fantastic weekend and a great start to the new season for us with a relatively new, but quite experienced team. I believe that the real key to our results has come from us finding a unique combination of driver-mechanic team work that enables us to be so competitive. I have to acknowledge Ferenc’s commitment and support for the other drivers, knowing that he was quick from the beginning and gave us a good benchmark to go by in preparation. He totally deserved this title in Spain. Mats and Stefan also drove exceptionally well in the racing for their first senior international event with us on the new equipment, so it’s been a very positive result all around. Now, we’re looking forward to the first round of the Euro Challenge next month and aim to have our junior drivers as competitive too. Unfortunately, we had some technical issues over the weekend that prevented us from repeating our Winter Cup success from 2010, but we’ll continue with our test program as we have this week here with next year’s juniors.”

Complete results from the 2011 Rotax Winter Cup are available for download at – www.rgmmc.com

IFR news and updates can be found on the team's official homepage – www.intrepidforcerotax.com
All VPD Racing news for the 2011 season is online at Race To Get Therewww.racetogetthere.com

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