Summarize

Team South Africa scored mixed results in Thursday’s Qualifying Heats at the 24th annual ‘Rotax Max Olympics of Karting’ Grand Finals at the Circuito Internazionale di Napoli in Sarno, Italy. The twelve-man Team is competing among 400 top karters from over sixty countries around the world to crown a global champion in each of the six Rotax classes. The Finals began with the equipment handover on the weekend, before practice Monday and Tuesday, and then qualifying and three heats on Wednesday and Thursday.

South African premier class direct-drive two-speed DD2 class driver Sebastian Boyd made up seven places to wind up eleventh once again in his second heat on Thursday. Teammate Brad Liebenberg endured a tough race, but still rose three places to finish 21st. Both drivers continued to climb up the field in their third heat, where Boyd rose four places to fourteenth and Liebenberg made up seven to 17th. Their efforts will see Sebastian start a handy 10th in his Friday Pre Final, and Bradley 17th.

Also in DD2, Mozambican Cristian Bouche climbed five places to finish 30th in his second heat, while Namibian driver Zain Beuthin came home 32nd. Bouche then gained ten more places to 25th in his third heat, while Beuthin retired. Bouche now starts his Pre Final in 32nd and Beuthin 35th. South African over-31 DD2 Masters champion Bjorn Roos retired from his Thursday heat and will start his Pre Final in 31st on Friday.

The team’s Senior Max drivers endured a difficult second heat on Thursday. Charl Michael Visser retired late in the race following a top-ten run, while Kent Swartz went out on the first lap. Swartz then delivered a stirring drive to climb nine places to end up 14th in his final heat. Visser’s day however went from bad to worse when he also retired from his final heat. Once the deliberations were concluded, Visser qualified to start his Pre Final 24th and Swartz 30th.

Team South Africa’s high school Rotax Junior Max duo, Luke Hill climbed from 22nd to 18th in his group, where William Marshall rose four positions to end up 29th in the same race. Hill then started his final heat in 22nd and finished 20th, while Marshall climbed four places to finish 29th in his final race. Hill will now start his Pre Final 13th, while Marshall sets off in 34th on Friday.

African Open winner Aaryan Singh emerged the team’s top Thursday performer. The Dubai-based South African started his second qualifying heat in seventh and rose up to finish fifth. Singh then started his third heat fifth and climbed up to a splendid second. That will see him start tenth in his all-important Pre Final. Teammate, South African champion Tshepang Shisinwana endured another day to forget with two more retirements after running well up in the field. He starts his Pre Final 36th.

Thursday was tougher on Wednesday’s star of the show Matthew Shuttleworth, who started his under-11 Rotax Micro Max race sixth after finishing fourth in his opening heat. Matthew was involved in a first lap incident and dropped to the very back. He then fought all the way from 35th up to 24th on the road to be classified 28th after penalties. Shuttleworth’s great first race result however helped elevate him to start a strong eighth in his Friday Pre Final.

Friday’s Pre Finals will now determine the make-up of which drivers will reach, as well as their starting positions on the grid for Saturday’s respective Rotax Max Grand Finals. Those six Saturday Finals will then crown the champion in each Rotax Max category. Catch the live stream at www.kart.co.za.