The Right Karts New Zealand Rotax Max Challenge team are all back on New Zealand soil after an impressive showing at the 2023 Rotax Grand Finals in Bahrain over the week of 5th - 10th December.

 

The seven strong team raced identical spec karts provided by the different Kart manufacturers sponsoring their respective classes with engines provided by Rotax BRP. After only six test sessions to learn the track and the equipment before official qualifying, all of the Kiwis showed good pace throughout the week with mixed fortunes once racing started.

The youngest of the team, Iver Spence from Christchurch, would line up in his second International race meeting after a positive showing at SuperNationals in Las Vegas a month earlier, this time in his first Micro Max event. Iver showed a level head progressing through the week and after a tough qualifying meant he started each heat in 25^th, he managed to improve each time he hit the track moving forward to finish 17^th in the Final.

Tommy Hart had raced in the Mini Max category in Australia before his trip to Bahrain and was able to show his pace straight away, qualifying well in his group before a track limit penalty meant he lost his fastest 3 laps, leaving him with a lot of work to do in his three heats.  The KartSport Manawatu racer was the biggest mover of the Kiwi squad, making up an impressive 24 positions in his first two heats, and the third heat looking to be another Top 15 result before a red flag halted his progress. All classes except, Micro and DD2 Masters had a field of 72 karts which meant that after the points from the heats and prefinals were combined , you had to be in the top 36to assure a position in the Grand Finals on the last day of competition. After a battle in his pre-final Tommy made it through as the 35th qualifier. He continued his determined performance through the pack coming home in 14th position in the main final.

 

Nothing can really prepare you for your first International event outside of Australasia, apart from what you experience at the event itself. This is especially true in the Junior and Senior categories where the competition is so solid throughout the 72 strong International field. Having only moved up to the Junior class this year back home in New Zealand, Miles Baker showed his speed early on in the week but as often happens with debuts, struggled in qualifying and therefore was in the thick of things in all three heats. Just like his teammates, Miles was able to get up into the top 10 in one of his heats when things went his way but had his work cut out to keep his nose clean in the others.

 

Bradley Hewson had the same battles in the hugely competitive Senior Max category, where countries such as the UK had up to eight entries in this class alone, determined by the sheer number of International events they attend throughout the year to qualify for the Grand Finals. Both Miles and Bradley’s misfortunes continued into their pre-finals as neither was able to finish after first lap incidents and damage put an end to their event after the Pre-Finals.

 

New Zealand had two entries for the fastest class of the event, DD2. Both Joshua Bethune and William Exton returned for their second consecutive Grand Final event having competed in Portugal in 2022. Throughout testing both were only a matter of a couple of tenths off the top of the timesheets but with a tenth often covering almost ten drivers, qualifying was always going to be the most important session for this class. A bad qualifying is tough to bounce back from as you often end up trying to survive the chaos of mid-field battles whilst also knowing you  have to move up as many positions as possible, all while looking after your precious nose cone or incurring a penalty. Both had very similar heat results fighting their way into the Top 10 more than once but suffering nose cone penalties and a DNF each which hindered their progress and meant they both started their respective pre-finals P22. This is where Exton was able to do just enough to make it onto the Grand Final, albeit the last qualifier. Josh Bethune’s luck ran out here and he would unfortunately not make it through to finals day. In the main event, Exton was able to have a great race and fight cleanly, making up 12 places, finishing 24^th.

The final representative for the team and the one that had New Zealand up watching in the early hours of the morning was the experienced Mathew Kinsman. Having competed at the Grand Finals event previously in the Senior Max and DD2 categories, he was this year in DD2 masters. It was evident from the first test session that Mat had great pace regularly appearing near the top of the time sheets. Having only one (but extremely experienced) field of karts in the class, Kinsman was able to top qualifying giving him pole for his two heats. With only one set of race tyres for the racing, it was clear that Mat was managing these throughout the heats whilst still claiming two wins and a second place giving him pole for his pre-final. The Pre-final saw Kinsman suffer his first set back of the racing when the front pack tussled through the fast flowing first couple of turns and he was shuffled off track having to return over the dusty infield. A sensible drive saw him recover back to 7th position, knowing that with his heat results this would still put him on pole for the final grid. However, a post race penalty for unsafe re-entry saw an exclusion from the Pre-final which in previous years would have been hard to bounce back from, but the new points system meant that he would still be able to retain his points front the heats and would start P7 in the final. This was good enough as Kinsman showed speed early on in the final, posting fastest laps whilst still dealing with traffic. Three time Grand Finals Champion, Ben Cooper from Canada, who started on the front row was bale to make a break away and Kinsman commenced the chase. An uncharacteristic mistake from Cooper, on some dropped oil in the final sector of the race track, meant the Kiwi was able to pass for the lead and he stretched away from a recovering Cooper crossing the line first. However, it was soon evident from the lack of celebration after an incredible drive that Kinsman had a push back front bumper, and would receive a 5 second penalty. Luckily Cooper and Kinsman had stretched a big lead over the remainder of the field, and Kinsman was still able to finish on the podium and in second. 

 

As with any large International event, The Rotax grand Finals can be a tough week if things don’t  go your way. We look forward to seeing what the team has learned from the high calibre competition when they line up here on the grid, January 2024. The whole Right Karts Team showed they can compete with the best in the world and did themselves and New Zealand proud.

 

Article added: Sunday 31 December 2023