Summarize

Cape Town kart racer Jason Coetzee headed off to Belgium over the weekend in search of a wildcard ticket to December’s Rotax Max World Finals in Brazil. Coetzee may have missed the ticket in the end, but he perhaps even surprised himself with his pace amid a world class field of DD2 racers at the Rotax Max Challenge Golden Trophy at the twisty Genk kart circuit. 

"Wow - that was a brilliant weekend!” Jason admitted after a measured drive to fourth among the finest drivers in Europe in the final. "I was happy to be on the pace from the start — I think we surprised a few people by ending up well up the time sheets in practice, but we were very happy! “Saturday I took it easy in warm-up but I was delighted to qualify in fourth and then concentrated on keeping it clean in the Pre Final and pushing as hard as I could. 

“I came home fourth, but two of the drivers ahead were penalised, so I ended up second behind Austrian Daniel Machacek in the Pre Final, which meant I was on the front row for the final. "It was a huge thrill to line up second on the grid among the best karters in Europe in the final — I was a bit nervous, but we just stuck to our game plan…

“I had a good run in the Final but I never quite had the pace of the guys who race in Genk all the time and know every bump and crack of the track, so I hung in as best as I could. “The Pole Piotr Wisnicki and German driver Ronny Goettler managed to get past me along the way and they chased Makachek home, so I just concentrated on my pace and drove home fourth. 

“We went to Belgium on the off chance of taking the ticket available to the Rotax Max Grand Finals in Brazil in December and I think we did a bit better than we may have expected. “We were right in there all weekend and that pre-final second is the highlight of my karting year! “Special thanks to KMS Europe, my mentor Umpie Swart and my folks for the chance to get out there for this unforgettable weekend.

“Our season ends with the WP finals at Killarney this weekend — I think we are pretty well prepared for that!"