Summarize

Verheul stars in World Finals opener

It was a day of ups and downs for team South Africa in the first day of racing at the Rotax Max Grand Finals in Sarno, Italy on Wednesday, topped by a brilliant lights to flag first heat win for DD2 Masters star Nic Verheul. Masters teammate Jono Pieterse ended 13th in his heat, DD2 duo Jonathan Thomas and Benjamin Habig finished in the top ten of their first heats and Junior lad Aqil Alibhai was provisionally sixth, but the rest of the team suffered days to forget.

Pretoria driver Verheul qualified on pole position for his heat Wednesday morning before powering to victory in spite of a little pressure from Argentine Matias Rodrigues, while KZN man Jono Pieterse had a happier race after a difficult two days of practice, running at the same pace as the top 6 to gain four places en route to 13th in his heat. PE driver Brett Brito ended 26th.

Cape ace Thomas drove a safe race to 9th in his DD2 heat, while SA DD2 champion Habig overcame a tough qualifying to end up an encouraging tenth in his opening race. SA’s third DD2 driver Wayland Wyman unfortunately fell victim to one of several first corner pile-ups on the day to be eliminated in a significant shunt in his heat. In other DD2 news, expat SA driver Luca Munaretto now representing Italy, qualified second and ended 8th in his opening heat.

Jozi lad Aquil Alibhai ran second for most of his under-15 Junior Max heat a before falling victim to a tough overtaking move and then being run wide on the final corner of the last lap, but he still came home a credible 6th, although nose cone damage could see him drop a few places in the final results. Junior teammate, Cape Town SA champion Troy Dolinschek similarly lost out to a first lap incident before charging back up to 20th.

Cape Town SA Senior Max champion Charl Visser qualified 22nd in his group in ultra competitive Senior Max albeit just 6-tenths of a second off pole positions before fighting it out in the wild mid pack to end up 23rd in his heat. SA under 13 Mini Max hope, Maritzburg lad Troy Snyman was another driver to lose 16 places to a first corner incident before fighting his damaged kart home, while Cape kid Reese Koozen suffered a similar fate in baby Micro Max.

Many believe that a harsh lecture is forthcoming from the Clerk of the Course following the many Turn 1 crashes and a clear lack of driver discipline in some quarters, but the Rotax Max Grand Final show must go on, with two more heats in each class Thursday, before Pre Finals on Friday and the all important Finals on Saturday…

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Rotax Max Challenge

What:Rotax Max Grand Finals First Heats Report
Where:Sarno, Napoli, Italy
When:Wednesday 23 October 2019
Community:International

For further information please contact jennifer@kart.co.za

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