CIK-FIA Interview: Ward Racing
| from CIK-FIA | 6 February 2016 |
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CIK-FIA "Best-Of 2015": Ward Racing, performance and warmth
The Swedish team Ward Racing has occupied a growing place in international Competition for several years. They won the 2015 CIK-FIA European KF-Junior Championship while enabling numerous other team members to do well in KF and KF-Junior. For example, 20 Drivers wore the colors of Ward Racing at the World Championship at La Conca, a record at this level.
In this interview, Joakim Ward describes his approach to racing.
Above: Joakim Ward
pic - CIK/FIA
Q - First of all, congratulations for the European title in Junior!
A - The whole team feels great pride in being crowned for the first time internationally by the CIK. Christian Lundgaard has performed well with us, I think he has matured and he is now able to intelligently manage his races and use his speed wisely.
Q - Can you enlighten us on how you run your team?
A - As a former Driver and passionate enthusiast, I made sure of developing a professional venture in karting and created my company in 1991. The racing team is only part of our work. We also manage the import of Tony Kart and Vortex products in Sweden, as well as Vega and LeCont tyres.
As for racing, we use the Tony Kart chassis and Vortex engines, but we do all the preparation and development ourselves. This lets us know where we are and allows us to react internally when the results do not match our expectations. For the constitution of the team, we try to surround ourselves with good people, both technically and personally speaking.
Q - What creates the harmonious atmosphere which seems to reign at Ward?
A - As I said, the human aspect is very important to us. Even if it takes a lot of effort, racing should be fun. The mechanics are free to make their own decisions and then we can see if their choices were effective. The Drivers are there to succeed, of course, but they must also be able to learn and develop their capabilities. We attach great importance to testing, which is all the more crucial as Drivers spend less time in karting today.
Q - How do you see the future?
A - I was not necessarily for the replacement of the KF engines, but as OK engines are coming, the rules should be fixed for a long period. The success of the KZ2 category owes much to the stability of the regulations. I hope it will be the same for OK.
It is good that section 2.3.5 was deleted. The younger Driver entries will be strengthened and that is how we can strengthen the basis of karting.
The opening of the F4 type cars to 14 or 15-years-olds was not a good decision. Not only has karting lost many drivers, they take risks driving cars too fast for their age. In addition, many are discouraged after one or two seasons.
That said, I have no complaints. Karting is going well at the moment in Sweden, thanks to strong interest in Minikart. The prospects are quite good in this area and our race team is doing well too, so we are happy!
