Thrilling Qualifying of the ROTAX International Open

The fight for the last tickets to the ROTAX Grand Finals has begun: Today the ROTAX International Open kicked off the event with the qualifying practice. Under the Spanish sun almost 100 drivers headed for the first trial of strength on the 1.700 metres long high-speed track of Zuera, ascertaining the grids for the heat races on Saturday.

In the junior category it was local hero Lluc Ibanez (Binakart) who took the top of the pecking order. By a fastest lap time of 1:04.689 minutes he was slightly faster than Dennis Mavlanov (Zeta Corse) from Russia and Presley Martono (Aim Motorsport) from Indonesia. Darren Keane (Strawberry Racing) from Ireland and Scott Symons (KR Sport) from the UK completed the international potpourri of the top five positions of the grid, which was highly competitive with 31 drivers within only one second.

Josh Price (Strawberry Racing) from the UK was the pace maker in the senior class. Right behind him Lady driver Wiktoria Pankiewicz (Strawberry Racing) from Poland did a remarkable job. She established herself in second place and missed the pole position by only 0.052 seconds. Japan’s Marino Sato (Uniq Racing) was third quickest of the grid, displacing Max Aitken (KR Sport) from the UK and Lukasz Bartoszuk (Strawberry Racing) from Poland to fourth and fifth place.

In the gearbox category Andreas Backman (Strawberry Racing) tied in with his great performances during the ROTAX MAX Euro Challenge season 2014. The man from Sweden was the fastest man on track, although his leading gap was only 0.008 seconds small. Yet this blink of an eye was enough to keep Shaun Slavin (KR Sport) from the UK and the former European champion Mathias Detige (Flandria Competition Kart) from Belgium behind. Austria’s Constantin Schoell (Dan Holland Racing) and Adam Glear (Aim Motorsport) from the UK completed the following positions.

As for the DD2 Masters category, which counts nine drivers in all, it was Javier Campo (TD Kart) setting the best time on home soil. Behind the man from Spain Tamsin Germain (DG Racing) and the multiple ROTAX champion Cristiano Morgado (QZ Racing) formed the chasing duo.

Info & Photo RGMMC