Kartlink Newsletter #5

” It doesn’t seem very long since I was writing about the World Champs last year, but already we’ve had the two Winter Cups in Spain for Rotax and Italy for KF and KZ. In Rotax, the factory teams did OK, but it seems they have a long way to go before they consistently challenge Strawberry, DHR, Coles, TKP and the rest. About 70% of the entries at Campillos were on one of the OTK brands, including the teams mentioned above, and the other manufacturers still have a way to go to catch up.

The ability to develop their own kart is no match yet for the 10-year head start OTK seem to have in building karts that work in Rotax, but I would expect the gap to narrow at the height of summer when there will be more grip and races at the tracks where the factories are used to racing and testing. This happened last year when CRG raced at the Castelletto Euromax round and were right up there.

In KF and KFJ, it’s good to see Oliver Hodgson, Enaam Ahmed and Max Fewtrell doing well and we’re looking forward to seeing Lando Norris (who was at Lonato but crashed at the start of the Prefinal), Tom Joyner and Callum Ilott in action this weekend in the first WSK round at La Conca. Also watch out for the Backman siblings at La Conca – both Andreas and Jessica got on the podium at Campillos with Strawberry, now they are racing in KZ and KF with Kosmic. Guan Yu Zhou is also doing a double programme, Rotax with Strawberry and KF with Ricky Flynn. ” Mary-Ann Horley, Kartlink Editor.

http://kartlink.com

Info Kartlink