52
RACE
3rd Rotax Winter Cup
Campillos (E), 13 th February 2011
he third annual Rotax Winter
T
Juodvirsis
Cup was a definite winner
as the season opener on the
RGMMC race calendar provided
perfect sunny conditions for great
racing at the picturesque Karting
masters highly
Campillos circuit, in what was a
clear contrast from 2010 when Spain
suffered its wettest February for
decades. With entries from more than
competitive DD2 field 20 countries, new champions were
2010 Euro DD2 revelation Simas Juodvirsis had to work hard to take the glory in
Spain, as the next generation of young drivers in the 2-speed class forced the
competition to be extremely close in the battle for the 2011 Winter Cup title.
Report J.Wade / Photos B.Kaligis & J.Wade
53
Above, Masters winner Igor Mukhin from Russia is likely to
be one of the protagonists of the 2011 Rotax Euro Challenge.
Below, Spaniard Araujo (26) flies off from pole in the final.
Opposite page, fastest drivers of qualifying practice.
crowned in each class with prizes incredible duals to the flag.
worth over 40,000 euro. The pre-final was great stuff from the
DD2 Former Euro Challenge Max start, as Vann taunted by De Ruwe
driver Kevin Ludi hit the top of Friday overcame the leader from Lithuania
afternoon’s qualifying practice. The at the beginning of lap 3. 16-year old
Birel Motorsport KZ1 official factory Meindert van Buuren, also one of the
driver’s time of 62”866 narrowly took drivers to make the podium at the first
pole position over
Georg Vann with “This is the first time at Campillos for
Simas Juodvirsis third me and when I saw the track I thought it
fastest and it was
obvious that they
were set for a real
would be difficult to win. I’m happy for
the win, and it has been good training
for the Euro Challenge too.”
showdown.
Vann, the Estonian Simas Juodvirsis – DD2 winner
DD2 champ who
celebrated his 17th birthday the week ever Rotax Open 3rd to the current
before, won two out of three heats, European Champion, had a good
unfortunately suffering a DNF in one start to be in front of Ludi, but was
that put him on row 2 for the pre-final just slightly off the pace he needed
as a result. The fastest on track during to hold 4th. Ludi was the quickest on
Saturday’s racing was Ludi with a track in the 13-lap race, but his speed
2nd and 4th place, but a mechanical caused some grief as he was looking
problem hampered one heat which to take P5, penalised 10” for tapping
meant he’d line-up on P4 next to Vann Jules Szymkowiak racing for the first
on the grid. It was Juodvirsis in the end time in the DD2. With five laps to go,
with a victory and two top 3 finishes multiple Masters champion at world
that ranked 1st following the qualifying and European level Christophe Adams
heats ahead of Rotax International also passed Van Buuren for 5th, who
Open champ Xen de Ruwe. This duo was soon relegated another place back
had turned on some of the best crowd- by seasoned Danish champ Dennis
pleasing action at the deciding round Ladefoged coming through from ROF.
of the Euro Challenge in Belgium last Just minutes remaining and Juodvirsis
season when they fought the most made a successful attempt to take
54 race 3rd Rotax Winter Cup
Below, Danish Ladefoged (614)
and Belgian De Ruwe (622) fight
had for runner-up spot in DD2. The
Belgian managed to finish 2nd
in the prefinal, while the Danish
DD2 champion finished only 5th in
prefinal.
Right, Dutch young gun Finn
Kooijman (39) leads on Araujo in
Junior Final. The Spanish Junior
champion seemed set to take the
win after grabbing pole in timed
practice, and winning all his three
heats on Saturday. The prefinal
was a sheer domination by the
Spaniard, but the final turned out
different.
“In the beginning I thought it could be an easy result
for us. Then Sean passed me with a few laps to go, but I
could pass him in the final lap. In the end I wasn’t sure I
had won because it was such a close finish.”
Ferenc Kancsár – Senior Max winner
the lead from Vann, De Ruwe getting
involved and assuming 2nd in the
shuffle, as Ludi pushed through for 3rd.
It was three-karts wide through the
final corners, as Juodvirsis came out in
front with Ludi splitting the difference
between him and De Ruwe over the
line ahead of Vann in P4. With the
penalty, Ludi was sent to 8th on the
results sheet, which gave Adams 4th
ahead of Ladefoged.
Juodvirsis made no mistake this time
around, pulling a small gap from the
start of the final and going on to clock
best lap by one-third race distance.
Amazingly, Ladefoged was in 2nd after
T1, passing his closest three contenders
within moments of the lights changing.
Van Buuren had found his speed and
was on the heels of De Ruwe in a
Belgian sandwich, with Vann chasing,
until he appeared to slow several laps
later. This left the door open for Adams
to take P5 from Vann before getting into
a dicing match with Szymkowiak for a
first five finish. Ludi also came into play
and passed the 15-year old, resisting
the pressure he was getting to hang
on for 6th across the line. The honours
went to Juodvirsis with a one second
lead over Ladefoged, closely followed
by De Ruwe with a break to Van Buuren
4th. Adams was next and crowned
the winner of the Rotax DD2 Masters
classification, for drivers 32+ years
within the gearbox class, also receiving
free entry for the Euro Challenge
season. Florent Lambert in P9 was 2nd
in the DD2 Masters, finishing behind
Erwin Montfoort 8th overall, as his
team-mate Giel Bronder rounded-off
the top 10 ahead of a disappointed
Vann.
Senior Max Ferenc Kancsár
was virtually unbeatable in seniors,
qualifying on pole with 64”194 during
Friday’s official timed practice ahead
of last year’s Euro Challenge round 4
winner Sean Babington and one of the
new guys to watch out of Holland, Bas
de Laat. The Intrepid Force Rotax driver
comfortably won two of his three
qualifying races, beaten by Estonia’s
Aavo Talvar in the remaining one who
then started on row 2 for Sunday’s pre-
final, next to Antoine Barthon with two
2nd and a 3rd place. De Laat ranked
2nd following the heats with one
victory and two top 3 finishes, while
Babington also took race honours, but
was unlucky in one start and dropped
down in the points. Kancsár’s team
mate Stefan Riener claimed 1st in the
last race of the day and 2010 British
champion Tom Fawcett now racing for
Kalman Motorsport posted the best lap
overall Saturday.
An incident on turn 1 in the pre-final
left De Laat and qualifying group 1
Above, Sweden’s Philip Morin hits an impressive 2nd in Junior final after finishing a good 6th in
the prefinal. The Swede started the weekend well by stopping the 3rd fastest lap in qualifying.
Below, Clerk of the Course Nigel Edwards showing the ‘clear the grid’ sign to mechanics.
leader Jiri Forman as bystanders, along
with several other drivers forced back
including Riener and Babington off
rows 3 and 4. Kancsár led from the
lights to the flag chased by Barthon,
while the non-stop dicing for positions
continued for most of the 13-lap race
from 5th place down. Mats Van den
Brand managed to come through from
grid 11 to take 3rd with two laps to go,
ahead of Jack Dex who led last year’s
Winter Cup pre-final pole-sitter Ramon
Rietveld. Luke Haynes lost his 6th
place after a stewards’ decision saw
him penalised and unable to start the
RESULTS
DD2
Prefinal: 1) 605 Juodvirsis (LTU) Maddox; 2) 622 De
Ruwe (B) Topkart; 3) 621 Vann (EST) Tonykart; 4) 615
Adams (B) Tonykart; 5) 614 Ladefoged (DK) RK; 6) 611 van
Buuren (NL) Topkart; 7) 646 Lambert (GB) Haase; 8) 626
Ludi (CH) Birel; 9) 628 Szymkowiak (B) Zanardi; 10) 620
Montfoort (NL) Maddox Final: 1) 605 Juodvirsis (LTU)
Maddox; 2) 614 Ladefoged (DK) RK; 3) 622 De Ruwe (B)
Topkart; 4) 611 van Buuren (NL) Topkart; 5) 615 Adams (B)
Tonykart; 6) 626 Ludi (CH) Birel; 7) 628 Szymkowiak (B)
Zanardi; 8) 620 Montfoort (NL) Maddox; 9) 646 Lambert
(GB) Haase; 10) 625 Bronder (NL) Gillard;
SENIOR
Prefinal: 1) 209 Kancsar (A) Intrepid; 2) 208 Barthon
(F) Tonykart; 3) 203 Van Den Brand (NL) Intrepid; 4) 248
Dex (GB) FAKart; 5) 247 Rietveld (NL) Intrepid; 6) 232
Drysdale (GB) FAKart; 7) 249 Babington (GB) FAKart; 8)
250 Williams (GB) FAKart; 9) 226 Talvar (EST) Intrepid; 10)
240 Lukovic (A) Birel Final: 1) 209 Kancsar (A) Intrepid;
7) 249 Babington (GB) FAKart; 3) 203 Van Den Brand (NL)
55
final, while Fawcett who trailed him
after coming off row 5 retired by lap 10
with a mechanical problem.
It was a good start to the final, Kancsár
leading Van den Brand and Rietveld
for an Intrepid 1-2-3. On the next lap,
Babington swapped places with Dex
and relegated Frenchman Barthon to
5th before stealing 3rd as well. The
leading pair had broken away slightly,
but the 17-year old was in pursuit of
victory and by lap 5 overtook Van den
Brand for P2, while Rotax International
Open champion Jake Ball had an
incredible start from P22, already up
to 5th in the early stages. Three laps
to go and Babington grabbed the lead.
Kancsár followed him intently until
the last corner, where he gave it one
last shot and the two went side-by-
side onto the straight. Only 0”001
separated them as they lunged at the
line, neither knowing which one was
the 2011 Cup champion until they
returned to the Parc Fermé. The 2011
title belonged to Kancsár in what was
a brilliant end to a great race overall. In
a close 3rd, Van den Brand completed
the Winter Cup podium with a clear
gap to Ball and Barthon, while Dex
took 6th from Williams and Rietveld.
Denmark’s Christian Sorensen was 9th
and Forman with an impressive drive
from grid 33 to 10th set quickest lap.
Junior Max The Junior Max
Spanish champ Alexis Araujo looked
set to take the 2011 title at Campillos
after securing pole position with
64”802 from Dave Blom, Dutch
champion and Euro Challenge front-
Intrepid; 4) 233 Ball (GB) Tonykart; 2) 208 Barthon (F)
Tonykart; 4) 248 Dex (GB) FAKart; 8) 250 Williams (GB)
FAKart; 5) 247 Rietveld (NL) Intrepid; 9) 244 Sorensen
(DK) First; 10) 239 Forman (CZ) MSKart
JUNIOR
Prefinal: 1) 26 Araujo (E) Energy; 2) 35 Johansson (S)
FAKart; 3) 24 Glear (GB) FAKart; 4) 27 Onder (TUR) Gillard;
5) 18 Latif (GB) Gillard; 6) 86 Morin (S) Kosmic; 7) 42
England (GB) FAKart; 8) 39 Kooijman (NL) Gillard; 9) 41
Mora (P) Intrepid; 10) 36 Specken (NL) Intrepid Final: 1)
39 Kooijman (NL) Gillard; 2) 86 Morin (S) Kosmic; 3) 26
Araujo (E) Energy; 4) 18 Latif (GB) Gillard; 5) 47 Otero (E)
Intrepid; 6) 35 Johansson (S) FAKart; 7) 36 Specken (NL)
Intrepid; 8) 29 Schippers (NL) Intrepid; 9) 41 Mora (P)
Intrepid; 10) 27 Onder (TUR) Gillard
MASTERS
1) 417 Mukhin (RUS) Tonykart; 2) 402 Laine (FIN) Parolin;
3) 416 Carrera (E) Intrepid; 4) 405 Shaposhnikov (RUS) FA
Kart; 5) 403 Lambert (GB) Tonykart
56 race 3rd Rotax Winter Cup
runner Philip Morin. Repeating his
excellent qualifying result from the
Rotax Open last October, the local
Energy Premier Motorsport team driver
was confident that he could achieve a
podium, although strategy proved to be
the determining factor when it came
to Sunday’s final. Araujo won all three
of Saturday’s heat races, with Morin
2nd in each, while fellow Swiss driver
Eric Johansson ranked 3rd overall with
two P3 results. Joining him on row 2
for the pre-final was 12-year old Finn
Kooijman making in his first season
out of Mini Max who had set fastest
lap in two of the three heats, but it
was Turkish entry Kaan Onder who
outpaced everyone in his class, yet
he’d start on grid 7 Sunday. Blom was
2nd in the opening heat and looked set
to be amongst the likely winners at the
Winter Cup, but was later excluded for
a technical issue with the chassis, as
were two other drivers on the day.
The pre-final saw Araujo hold the lead
from start to finish, choosing to use
his new MOJO D1 tyres for the first of
the races Sunday, so it was no surprise
he was the quickest. Johansson took
advantage of the inside row start
from P3 to keep Morin at bay, who
was soon bombarded by the rather
assertive Adam Glear making his
debut in Juniors as a British Mini Max
runner-up in 2010. Kooijman was
immediately on the pace and into 4th
on lap 1 where he fought constantly
with Glear for a top 3 place, however,
he was handed a 3-second penalty
for leaving the start corridor as was
Guust Specken who would have been
classified 6th. Protrain Racing team-
57
“I was a bit nervous at the
start. as the race went on
I was a bit quicker than
philip, so I worked out
where I could pass him.
It was so close that as I
passed him we touched
and my rear wheel was up
in the air”
Finn Kooijman – Junior winner
mates Kaan Onder and Alessandro
Latif had overpowered Morin with a
few laps remaining, taking 4th and 5th
places respectively.
The adrenalin was clearly pumping as
the junior drivers waited for a start on
the grid headed by Araujo. Onder was
slow to begin, but managed to find
his place early in the formation lap.
Again it was the pole-sitter controlling
the race when the lights went out,
shadowed by Glear, Johansson and
Morin. Pressure from Morin for P2 left
Glear back in 6th, as the Swede honed
in on the leader and passed him on the
next lap with the benefit of having new
tyres. Latif ran off track trying to go
through but rejoined without too much Above, Senior winner from Hungary Ferenc Kancsar (209) had to struggle significantly in the final
of a loss, as Araujo was pushing to against Briton Sean Babington (249), who came back strongly from 7th on starting grid.
Top, Alessandro Latif (18) showed some good speed in Junior finishing 5th and 4th in prefinal and
keep P2, coming under pressure from
final respectively. Left, Birel official driver Kevin Ludi from Switzerland stops a very fast pole in
Kooijman and then Onder, overtaking DD2, but 8th in prefinal precluded him from taking better than 6th in the final.
him as well for 3rd until the Spaniard Opposite page, Van Buuren (611) leads a three-kart train in DD2, to end 4th in the final.
retaliated. With one lap to go, Kooijman
who’d been the quickest in the second Specken. Sam Schippers in 8th almost the Masters’ trophy win to take home
half of the race closed in on Morin fell out of the top 10 when he was free entry (including practice track
out in front and made an attempt to hit by Francisco Mora who finished fees and 4 x sets Parc Fermé tyres) to
steal the lead that saw the pair make behind him and was shown the driving the four-round Euro Challenge series,
contact, leaving Morin almost a second standards flag. Onder was 10th where he hopes to be able to compete
behind as the Dutch driver went on followed by race pace-setter in lap 13 to be in the running for the Masters’
to take the junior title for 2010. Araujo Lazare. ticket to the Rotax Max Grand Finals
took a deserving 3rd closely followed Max Masters At his first in the United Arab Emirates next
by Latif, then Otero, Johansson and “This was a nice event international race, Igor Mukhin took November. 2010 Euro vice champion
for my debute in Europe. I the honours in the Max Masters class, Mikko Laine was 2nd in the class
enjoyed the racing, but of which ran within the Senior Max and local driver Manuel Carrera 3rd.
course with the additional category at this year’s Rotax Winter Qualifying was the same order as the
Cup. All the way from Russia for the eventual results of the weekend in
weight on the kart for the
event, Mukhin was the fastest in Max Masters. Last year’s Winter Cup
Masters class, it makes it official timed practice of the 28+ years winner Florent Lambert missed out on
a little difficult to keep up entries. He missed out on making the making the podium by less than a tenth
with the young 15 and 16 grid for Sunday’s pre-final, but sealed of a second at the chequered flag.
year olds racing in
Senior Max.” All race results can be found online at www.rgmmc.com by following the link to 2011 RESULTS. Entri-
es close on February 24th for the first round of the 2011 Rotax Euro Challenge to be hosted by Karting
Igor Mukhin – Max Masters Genk, Belgium from March 30th to April 3rd. More information about the championship including
winner RGMMC News and entry forms is on the official homepage - www.rgmmc.com