No More 'Flying Under The Radar' For Bray
| press release | 17 May 2013 |
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There will be no 'flying under the radar ' for top Kiwi karter Daniel Bray at the opening round of this year's CIK-FIA European Championship meeting for KZ1 and KZ2 class karts at Wackersdorf in Germany this weekend.
When reigning New Zealand Open class champion and 2011 SKUSA US S1 class title-holder Bray, from Auckland, made his European debut at the World Cup meeting for the KZ2 class at Sarno in Italy in August last year there was a desperate Google-driven flurry from his competitors for information about him after Bray qualified fourth - out of an entry of 107 drivers from 19 different countries - then won four of the heats.
Above: Kiwi Daniel Bray on the front row of the gird at the CIK-FIA World Cup for KZ2 at Sarno last year
pic - Fast Company/CIK-FIA
Though he was punted out of the lead of the final, and eventually crossed the finish line in 20th place, Bray's impressive rookie turn left a big impression, an invitation to take up a works drive with his GP Karts team in this year's European Championships meaning just one of the flow-ons from that meeting.
"We certainly got them talking," Bray said before leaving home last week. "The problem this time is that they now know who I am and what I can do so I will be under greater scrutiny than I would be otherwise. No flying under the radar this time I'm afraid!"
This weekend's meeting is the first being run under a new partnership between the governing body of world karting, the CIK-FIA, and Italian promoter WSK Promotion. Under the partnership the racing will be live-streamed on the CIK-FIA's website at www.cikfiachampionship.com meaning karters here can watch Bray in action on the other side of the world in real time for the first time.
This year Bray is one of 103 competitors from 21 countries contesting the KZ2 class at the opening European Championship round. Leading the charge is defending title-holder Simas Juodvirsis (Energy-TM-Bridgestone) from Lithuania with competition likely to come from Bray (GP-TM-Vega), Italian Riccardo Negro (DR-TM-Bridgestone), German Marcel Jeleniowski (CRG-TM-Bridgestone) and Austrian Marcel Muller (CRG-Modena-Bridgestone).
In the KZ1 (now shortened to KZ) class the defending European champion is Dutch driver Jorrit Pex (CRG-TM-Bridgestone). Competition for him is expected to come from fellow Dutchman Bas Lammers (Intrepid-TM-Bridgestone), Italian Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) and last year's KZ2 World Cup winner Jordan Lennox-Lamb (CRG-Parilla-Bridgestone) from the UK.
