Al Ain Rotax World Finals Day 5

Competitors in the 2011 Rotax World Finals in the UAE have played every two qualifying heats of the Al Ain Raceway on Thursday, November 24. The polemen have maintained good positions, but pressure from their opponents was clearly felt.

The battle was very tight in Rotax Junior and the Japanese driver Ukyo Sasahara had to concede a third place after his victory in the first heat. The classification, was now dominated by fellow Japanese Tadasuke Makino and the Australian Joseph Mawson who was 11th in qualifying, holding both a victory and a second place from the day. Pierce Lehane (Australia) and Jordi Van Moorsel (Netherlands) completed the top five with very consistent performances. On the track, the Canadian Jesse Lazare lost places in the second race and now fell to 10th place. The French driver Marco De Peretti regained some ground, but he still has a long way to go.

Sean Babington conserves his lead

In Senior, the fight continued between the two leading British drivers Sean Babington, twice victorious, and Ben Cooper, with a win and a third place to his credit. The Australian David Sera was close with his two second places, while the Polish Karol Dabski, third in qualifying, won one race but dropped back in the next. Delayed by 37th in qualifying, the French driver Alexandre Finkelstein had to work twice as hard and was back in 20th position with the fastest time in heat 3. Nicolas Picot took a nice 5th place before retiring in the next race and was in 40th overall.

The Finn Miika Laiho took a small advantage over the Canadians Pier-Luc Ouellette and Nicholas Latifi in DD2. South Africa’s Mark Murray maintained his rank and Australia’s Jason Pringle was back strongly in the top 5. The French Maxime Gravouille upped the pace and gained places while the unfortunate Jeremie Charon plunged following a problem at the start of the heat CD.

William Berteaux took a superb victory in the final heat on Thursday.

In the DD2 Master class, the poleman South African Cristiano Morgado continued his strong momentum with two wins in two races. Behind him, the differences were small among the other competitors. Scott Campbell (Canada) was joined by Peter Lundstroem (Denmark) and Martin Victorsson (Sweden), both more at ease in the heats than during qualifying. The French driver William Berteaux is part of the very exclusive clan of winners during the day and is positioned around the top 5, Guy Pansart remained in the game in about 10th position and Franck Rouxel was recovering after a disappointing qualifying.

The program consists of eight races on Friday in the morning, a heat for each competitor before the repechage in the afternoon.

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