[guyermer]

Hi all,

here is a link that will help you follow whats happening at the Rotax World Finals.

http://www.maxchallenge-rotax.com/event ... final.html

I think they could use the support.

[gp8]

or to go straight to the live timing (Junior qualifying is starting soon) try this link

http://live.kart-data.com/LT09/RGF/Stand.htm

In the junior practice sessions Nabil appears to be on the pace and Jack McGregor (despite some feral finger pointing in these forums) appears to be acquitting himself quite respectfully.

Good luck to the boys!

[JohnKing6]

Quck update on all after qualifying:

Juniors:

Nabil 19th only .4 off pole. A bit disappointing because he'd looked a bit further up in the practice sessions but he's in the fight.
Gilbert went well in the practice sessions but went the wrong way on set-up in qualifying and ended up 53rd. Should be able to improve.
Silvano is struggling - down in 57th place
Brandon is on a steep learning curve and is a bit off the pace but is gradually improving

Seniors

Hasif is going well. I'm not sure exactly where he ended up overall but was 18th in his group so should be mid 30's overall.
Mikko is 51th and struggling. Only .6 off 2nd place so it looks worse than it actually is. a .2 improvement would put him another 20 places further up.
Jack is doing well. Overall 60th or so but he's improving with each session
Aldi also struggling - close to Jack's position.

DD2

Both Fei Hoong and Afiq on are the pace. Both in the top 20 and look capable of moving forward.
Freddy is way of the pace

[Jules]

John, thanks for updates and yeah, please do it regularly.

Do wish our boys ALL THE BEST and tell them, the home crowd's rooting for them!

[JohnKing6]

Update from the heats:

Juniors:

Nabil was awesome in both heats, running as high as 2nd in heat 1 and 3rd in heat 2. In both he got shuffled back in the fighting but finished 5th in heat 1 and 11th (having been forced wide on turn 1 of the last lap when in 5th place!) so is in really good shape for a high starting position in the final.
Gilbert is driving well and has finished 19th and 16th so is heading for a good start position in the 2nd chance although if he get a bit of luck in heat 3 he could make it direct thru to the final. At the moment, he's in 28th place on points so would be the last qualifier for the final.
Brandon's driven 2 very sensible races and has moved up from a bad starting position to 21st and 22nd. He should make it thru to the 2nd chance quite comfortably.

Seniors

Mikko has had 2 amazing starts, helped by a few incidents, and finished 11th and 17th. Another similar result could see him direct to the final. Still struggling a bit for pace but his race craft is paying off big time.
Hasif had an off in race 1 and finish mid 20's then did well in heat 2 to get 15th. He won't get direct to the final but a good heat 3 finish should give him a decent start position for the 2nd chance.

DD2

Fei Hoong has had 2 good drives - 9th and 8th so should be well up the start for the final.
Afiq got punted off in heat 1 but recovered to 18th or so and then got 11th in heat 2 so should make the final OK.
Freddy finished last in Heat 1 and didn't start heat 2. Not sure why....

[Alex Ritchie]

Thanks for the updates John. All the best to our boys in Egypt.

[JohnKing6]

Update after Friday:

Juniors

Nabil went off with a group of the front runners in heat 1 at turn 1 on the 1st lap. He was completely off the track, facing the wrong direction but got back on quite quickly and came around 1st lap in 26th place. A storming drive saw him back up to 12th by the end of the race (8 laps!) and is 14th on the grid for the pre-final.

Gilbert was in 28th place overnight but also had a 1st lap incident. He recovered enough but went to the 2nd chance, starting in 9th place. Another 1st corner incident saw him drop back again but he fought back to 15th. For his 1st time here, he put in a really good performance.

Brandon got delayed in the same incident as Gilbert in heat 3 so ended up 20th on the grid for the 2nd chance and had a steady drive in that as well. A good learning experience for him and a series of steady drives after his poor qualifying.

Seniors

Mikko continued his great race management and is direct to the final, in 26th place.

Hasif had a day to forget. A 1st lap crash in heat 3 saw him well down the field in the 2nd chance and another delay in the 1st corner put him out of a realistic chance for making the final. He fought hard in the 2nd chance and got back up to about 15th place.

Jack had a great drive in heat 3 to get 15th place and made the 2nd chance comfortably. Like the other 1st timers he's had a lot of fun and learnt a lot.

DD2.

Fei Hoong had another solid drive in his heat and finished 10th. He's direct thru to the final. I don't have the positions yet but he should be about 13-14 on the grid.

Afiq had an action packed day. He was hit before the start line of heat 3 and spun across the track and got hit again and pushed into the barriers. The DNF meant he started the 2nd chance in 11th. He then had another incident on turn 1 of lap 1 and dropped down to about 20th. He fought up to 13th or so but with a little bit of luck (or no bad luck) he should have made the final.

Freddy didn't qualify for the 2nd chance.

So finals day tomorrow and realistic chances of 2 top 10 finishes for the Malaysian team

[jonbummer]

great to see everyone is doing good there !!

and thanks for the update, John!

[JohnKing6]

Final update:

Nabil had an "ïnteresting" pre-final. He lost a few places at the start and then basically he banged wheels with a group of about 8 karts fighting for 16th place for the 1st 5 laps and by the time he got clear of them, he didn't have enough time to make up many places and finished where he started - 14th. The final was a different story. He made a good start and immediately jumped up to 10th. He was 6th on lap 4 but then got hit and dropped back to 9th or 10th. He got back to 6th but the 5 in front had quite a big lead on him and although he was slowly catching the guys battling for 4th&5th, there wasn't enough time. So 6th place but a great result and a series of really good drives.

Mikko had a steady drive again in the pre-final, moving up to 22nd. The final was a disaster. He got delayed at the 1st turn then caught the group ahead of him but then hit a curb too hard during an overtaking attempt and threw the chain off. So, a disappointing DNF to finish a series of really strong drives.

Fei Hoong had mechanical problems in the pre-final and dropped back to 22nd. In the final, he got hit on the start line and dropped to last place. He caught the group in front of him then got rammed from behind and lost places again. Again, a disappointing end to a good performance.

But, a great performance by the team. In the last 2 years, we've only had one finalist - Calvin in 2007 so to have three this year is fantastic.

[jonbummer]

hi

just wondering if there's any video footage from the race in World Finals.

[JohnKing6]

Rotax always produce a video a couple of months after the race. There was a TV crew there so I don't know if something might get streamed at some point...

[jonbummer]

thanks for the info, John
will look out for it then

[angelababy]

thanks for updates and yeah, please do it regularly.

[Mikko Nassi]

angela you should have a look at the date of some of the threads you're posting in. There's not much point having regular updates on a race from last year.