Sean Gelael Keeps Progressing
press release
The 2011 season is now well under way and the time has come to make a first assessment of young Indonesian driver Sean Gelael's performance before the closing rounds of this year. The Sean GP team has had a very busy schedule, with almost 15 meetings held mostly in Europe, over the last few months. Sean's main motivation during this season has been his determination to discover European kart racing and build up as much experience as possible as a driver. He has definitely reached his goal, considering that the Indonesian karter is now capable of racing without any inferiority complex against the best international drivers.
Sticking to such a schedule has not been an easy task. At the highest level of competition, one has to face very experienced teams, which knows all the tricks of this sport. The Sean GP team has only been created recently, but has succeeded in conquering a recognised place in the field of karting in just a few months. Sean had come to learn, with new material, on tracks he did not know and that presented a much stronger grip, and he has quickly become the leading driver of the team. In only 6 months, he has assimilated the many parameters of high-level competition. He is now able to correctly analyse the behaviour of his kart and provide the technicians who manage the set up with detailed information.
As for pure driving, Sean has gone through several important stages. He was known for his speed, and he still is, though now he can manage races more incisively. At the start as well during overtaking, which are crucial steps along the way to victory, he now shows a high level of confidence. His attack against Sam Mac Leod on the last lap of the WSK Master Series pre-final at Viterbo is a perfect example of his evolution: great braking that prevented any reaction from his competitor. At the two major CIK-FIA summer meetings, Sean found on his way some drivers who were too hot-headed to show fair play on the track. From this viewpoint, the European Championship held at Zuera (Spain) has been the roughest, with very violent races that stopped him from taking advantage of his excellent performance level. At Sarno (Italy), at the World Cup for KF2, Sean was slowed down during timed qualifying, then in the qualifying heats and battled within the pack to move up to 14th in final B.
But already the following week, he showed his excellent form by climbing up almost 15 places in just a few laps during the WSK Master Series pre-final in Viterbo (Italy). Keeping the momentum going, he raced at the Asian Karting Open Championship on the Sentul International Karting Circuit, in his home country. More determined than ever, Sean first won the pre-final and then repeated this fantastic performance in the final, despite his very worn out tyres. So finally victory came to reward all the efforts and work made by the Sean GP team. In Indonesia, it was a sort of liberation and a great joy for all.
There are still some major races ahead before the end of the year to allow Sean to take a few more steps forward on the path to success. He will soon be back on the Lonato track, one of the most famous in Italy, for the Bridgestone Cup International Final, and then he will move to Japan for the CIK-FIA KF2 Asia-Pacific Championship at Suzuka before making off to Las Vegas to race at the most important kart race in America, the SuperNationals. He will conclude the season at the Macao meeting of the CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific Championship, but this time in the top class, KF1: another challenge for a driver whose unfailing motivation and sharpness of spirit do wonders.
