High participation for the Junior Monaco Grand Prix!

The privilege of sweeping through the “S” of the Swimming Pool and the Rascasse corner is not reserved for Formula One Drivers. International Karting Juniors will have a tremendous time this weekend of 18 and 19 October 2008 in the streets of Monaco on a circuit drawn between Boulevard Albert 1st and the Harbour, and they will indeed use one section of the lower part of the track cherished by Formula One stars. It will be the 12th edition of the event and, as in the early 2000’s, there will unfortunately be a break of at least one or two years from next season because of major works planned for the Harbour.

For several seasons, the Automobile Club de Monaco has concentrated on youngsters for its CIK-FIA Monaco Kart Cup, and the ACM has been amply rewarded by a participation which is getting higher and stronger year after year. There will be 49 Juniors at the start of this year’s edition, representing 15 nations. And they all dream of winning in order to add their names to the list of results of this prestigious event alongside that of a certain Robert Kubica, who won the Monte-Carlo race exactly ten years ago!

Crowned European Junior Champion in early September, the Finn Aaro Vainio will bear the number 1 in the streets of Monaco and will be among the main favourites. Winner of the Viking Trophy in June in Finland, the Russian Maxim Zimin will be another candidate to victory, just like the Dane Nicolaj Moller Madsen, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr, the Dutchman Nyck de Vries, Italy’s Vittorio Ghirelli and Matteo Beretta, and France’s Pascal Belmaaziz and Brandon Maisano. This being said, the specific character of any temporary circuit makes it difficult to forecast the results, and the outcome of the Sunday afternoon Final might very well reveal a surprise winner.

The young Drivers of the Junior Monaco Grand Prix will be invited to enter the arena for non-qualifying and qualifying practice, plus two qualifying heats, on this Saturday 18 October. Four additional heats will be held on Sunday morning in order to select the 34 Drivers authorised to take part in the Pre-Final and Final in the afternoon.

The programme of the Monaco Kart Cup will also include a 6-hour endurance race (organised over three sessions of 2 hours each), a race reserved for karts powered by 4-stroke engines and demonstrations with a “Bio Kart”.

All the classifications of the Monaco Kart Cup can be consulted live on www.cikfia.com

Info CIK / © Photo KSP