Australian karters Chris Hays and Troy Woolston both recorded an impressive top ten result in the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Final held at he La Conca circuit in Italy last weekend.
The pair was among five Australian drivers competing at the ninth running of the Event, which saw a total of 216 drivers in attendance representing 55 countries.
Held in changing conditions, the Australian contingent were amongst the fastest all weekend with David Sera and Josh De Maio unlucky not to have been standing on the podium at the completion of the Event.
Sera, who was the dominant driver in the corresponding Event last year at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, recorded some impressive results in the heat races only to have a coming together with his countryman, Woolston, in the pre-final. The incident forced Woolston out of the race while Sera finished 22nd.
In the Senior Max Final, Sera and Woolston were the hard chargers to storm through the pack and cross the line in sixth and 11th respectively. However, Sera was later given a 10-second penalty for making contact with the rear bumper of a competitor which was blocking him dropping him to 15th. As a consequence of the post-race penalties Woolston was elevated to ninth spot.
Hays and De Maio clearly showed they have what it takes to match it with the World’s best young drivers in the Junior Max category over the weekend.
De Maio was a star performer over the weekend, he won a heat race and started from second spot in the pre-final. He led the pre-final for a number of laps before finishing seventh.
Gold Coast-based Kiwi Scott McLaughlin was also competing at the Event for the New Zealand team. McLaughlin started the Final from sixth spot. However, his dream of a top result ended on just the third corner when he was hit from behind and even had another kart topple over his head. After dropping to the back of the field, he showed good pace to finish 19th.
In the 20-lap final his good run unfortunately came to an end when he was involved in a first lap incident. Meanwhile, Hays was engaged in a tight tussle for the positions on the edge of the top ten and was classified tenth at the finish.
Victorian Rick Pringle continually improved across the weekend while competing in the unfamiliar two-speed DD2 category and was due to start the Final from 14th position. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue ended his run prior to the green light.
In the Senior Max category it was a United Kingdom one-two with Ben Cooper remaining undefeated throughout the weekend to take the win ahead of Chris Lock. Argentinean Facundo Chapur won the Junior Max class while South African Leeroy Poulter defeated 2007 winner, Pier-Luc Ouellette in the DD2 class.
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