Day 7 Report
| Rotax media | 17 November 2013 |
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Rotax commentary of Finals day at NOLA...
Unlike yesterday, temperatures are expected to steady at a high of 79ºF (26ºC) and low of 68ºF (20ºC). Humidity levels, however, are expected to rise to 98% throughout the day.
Today, we will see a morning warm-up for all classes, pre-finals, a driver parade and lastly, the finals followed by the prize giving ceremony and a driver’s party to be hosted at ‘Mardi Gras World’ in New Orleans.
Without further hesitation, let us fill you in on what exciting action the track has been experiencing today!
Junior MAX Pre-Final
Kirkwood lead the field to turn 1, with a relatively clean start. However, come lap 2, “slow” signs were displayed around the track- a sign for restarting the race. After resuming the race, several battles ensued with Vips and Kirkwood. But surprisingly, the American unexpectedly drove off of the track, landing in 14th position. Meanwhile, Ward was leading the race, 1 tenth in front of Vips and almost 2 seconds in front of Australian Burton-Harris. The last lap saw a great battle for 3rd, involving Selliken, Burton-Harris and Harvey. The end of the Junior pre-final, however, had Ward finish in first, Vips come in second and Harvey make his way up to 3rd position, running the fastest lap. Meanwhile, Kirkwood was able to drive up to 10th position. What a fantastic begin for the junior drivers!
However, word came that Vips was disqualified because of non-compliance with technical regulations, pushing Harvey into second and Selliken into third position.
Senior Pre-Final
The excitement in the paddock could be felt as Oliver Hodgson lead the field into turn 1. However, the start proved to brutal, with numerous crashes, so even before the end of the first lap, a red flag was waved, signalling drivers to stop on the front straight, and restart the race from their original starting positions. The restart saw a cleaner first few corners, with Hodgson once again taking the lead with Morin and Talvar in close pursuit. About halfway through the race, Eastwood was running in 3rd and the other World champion, Webb, who did not see such good fortune, ran in 33rd. A great battle for third ensued between Gil, Talvar, Fowlie, and Bezel who switched positions rhythmically. However, Hodgson won with over 3.5 seconds over Eastwood, finishing in 2nd and Gil who finished in third. What an impressive race!
DD2 Masters Pre-Final
The pre-final saw Morgado storm out to the front of the pack and Rudolph drop back to third. Although four drivers were battling for the final podium position, Rudolph was able to make his way to second, only to trade positions with France’s Dauphin several times. Meanwhile, Morgado was able to keep his lead over the American by a second. However, the Brazilian, Guzzi, and France’s Adams, managed to reel in Rudolph and pass him in lap 11 out of 14. Then, in the last lap, with a final attempt to pass for third place, Rudolph slipped past Adams, running in third, forcing the Frenchman off the track. What Rudolph didn’t anticipate though, was that the Australian, Hunter, was lurking behind, who took advantage of the opportunity, slipping into third and pushing Rudolph back into fourth. As it stands, Morgado finished in first, over half a second in front of Guzzi and Hunter rounded out the top three.
DD2 Pre-Final
The racing atmosphere heightened as the 34 DD2 drivers, lead by the Lithunanian, Vasiliauskas, rolled out of pit lane for their pre-final race. In lap 3, after a smooth restart, Vasiliauskas was leading the field by 2 tenths over Shaun Slavin and the American, Joey Wimsett. Formal was running in 5th, Cooper in 9th and Ouellette in 30th- out of the race after making contact with another driver. Halfway through the race, Slavin, running in second, broke down on track, allowing Formal to slip into second. De Ruwe, running in 4th, in lap 10, had his bumper fall off, causing him to drop out of the race as well. After battling hard for second and third position, the Lithuanian, Juodvirsis finished in second, with Formal 4 tenths behind second. Without surprise, the second Lithuanian of the race, Vasiliauskas, won the heat by over 4.6 seconds and was the only person who was able to crack the 54 second barrier, running an ultimate fastest lap time of a 54.789. There is no doubt the upcoming final race will see very intensive battles.
Junior Final
With an incredible jump at the start, Harvey sprang ahead of the pack, and by lap 3, gained a 2.4 second gap on second placed American, Juan Correa. However, Ward ran bumper to bumper with Correa, just 1 tenth off of the American. Not surprisingly, within the next lap, Ward had passed Correa for second. Throughout the last few laps of the race, a very intense battle ensued between Correa and UK driver, Zhou Guan Yu. Meanwhile, Ward continued to reel in first placed Harvey by over 4 tenths of a second each lap, diminishing the gap down from 2.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds in just 6 laps. By lap 14 of 15, Ward was able to reduce the gap to 0.5 tenths- what an intense race! However, in the last lap, Harvey was punted off the track, handing over the lead to Ward. But Correa did not give up, who was in hot pursuit of Ward. In the final corner of the last lap, Correa who was impatiently waiting for the opportunity to pass the UK driver, squeezed by Ward for ultimate victory- and to become the first American to win a Rotax World Championship. What an accomplishment!
DD2 Masters Final
Morgado lead the DD2 Masters to a rather smooth start, taking the front position early on. Soon enough, the top positions changed in favour of the Brazilian, Guzzi, who was leading just 0.07 seconds over the second-placed Rudolph. In lap 4 of 20, however, through contact, Rudolph spun in turn 1, eliminating him from the championship, allowing Australian Daniel Richert to run up to second and Morgado to third, behind the leader, Guzzi. In a fight for the lead, unfortunately, Hunter and Guzzi ran into each other, also eliminating their hopes for the win. With that said, Morgado continued to lead the pack, followed by Daniel Richert and Canadian Scott Campbell who were catching up to Morgado with every lap. In the last corner on the last lap, an exciting battle ensued between Morgado, Richert and Campbell. Ultimately, Richert passed Campbell in the last corner on the last lap for second position, and Campbell finished in third. But for Morgado, the day proved successful as he clinched the DD2 Masters World Championship, for the 4th time and 3rd consecutive time! What a thrilling race to watch!
Senior Final
A good start saw Oliver Hodgson move to the lead, distancing himself from second placed Fowlie by 1 tenth of a second. Gil ran in 3rd, trailed closely by Brand and Talvar. The 2 UK teammates seemed to work together, pushing away from the rest of the field. Nevertheless, Gil continued to push very hard, catching up to Fowlie. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough of a gap for Gil, who was passed by Talvar and fell down to 4th position. 5 top drivers- Hodgson, Talvar, Fowlie, Gil, and Brand, shared the battle for the lead. A great run was also preformed by Askew, who was about 3 tenths faster than the leaders. Finally, the top 3 drivers were decided with Oliver Hodgson as the new Rotax Senior World Champion, followed by Talvar, just 0.042 seconds behind, and the American, Oliver Askew, running the fastest lap time of the race and rounding out the top three. Another, incredible, heart-pumping race!
DD2 Final Race
The last RMCGF race saw a clean start- but with an unexpected surprise: Danny Formal pulled off the track in the first corner, due to a technical malfunction. Meanwhile, Cooper and Vasiliauskas fought for the lead, however, Cooper and Vasiliauskas both crashed, eliminating them from the race and hopes of winning the final championship. The American, Joey Wimsett did see fortune, however, maintaining a steady second position. As the end of the race neared, it was Wimsett and the Spaniard, Oriol Dalmau Caballer who battled for the majority of the race, trading positions almost every lap. After an incredible race, Wimsett took second place, with the Spaniard in third. However, Simas Juodvirsis became the winner of the DD2 Rotax World Championship. He drove his kart from the start to the finish flawlessly, gapping 2nd place by over 2.8 seconds. Congratulations!!
Micro and Mini MAX Invitational Race
An honourable mention must also be given to the winners of the Micro and Mini MAX classes as well. Congratulations to American, Dylan Tavella, the new Micro MAX champion and to the Canadian, Antonio Serravalle (provisional pending appeal by 54 to ACCUS), the new Mini MAX champion!
Nation’s Cup
Another congratulations to Team USA, who won the Nation’s Cup with an overall 1411 points, Australia finishing in second position with 1141 points and Spain who rounded out the top 3 with 1127 points. A round of applause for these nations!
Although the racing throughout the past week has seen phenomenal drivers battle for the top spots, crowning just four World Champions of 288 drivers, one can feel a twinge of sadness since it will take another year for the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals to be celebrated once again.
We would like to thank you all for a spectacular weekend, and for coming together and celebrating Rotax with everyone else. We hope to see you soon again, at the 2014 RMCGF!
The Rotax MAX Challenge (RMC) is a professional kart racing series established, owned and organized by BRP and its Rotax kart engine distributors. Approved by and in compliance with CIK / FIA, the RMC is a "one-make-engine" formula: only Rotax kart engines that are checked and sealed (for equal performance) are allowed. The success in the competition is mainly up to the skills of the driver.
