SA at karting World champs
2012-11-23 12:32
READY FOR THE BIG-TIME:Luca Canderle (2) and Nicholas Verheul (3) are SA's team drivers in the top DD2 class. image: ROCKY GUSH
Eight South Africa karters are on their way to the Algarve, Portugal, for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.
The 13th running of the karting championship will run from November 28 to December 1, 2012 and South Africans will contest world titles in four classes: Junior Max, Senior Max, DD2 Gearbox and DD2 Masters.
SA'S SHINING TRACK RECORD
Drivers that will line up are Eugene Denyssen and Bradley Liebenberg (Junior Max), Chad MacIver and Mitchell Licen (Senior Max), Luca Canderle and Nicholas Verheul (DD2 Gearbox) and Cristiano Morgado and John van Wyk (DD2 Masters).
Prospects ahead of the championship are promising - to date, since the competition was first run in Puerto Rico in 1999, South Africans have won no less than 10 World titles in the most competitive karting championship on the planet.
Durban’s Morgado is the current DD2 Masters champion and will be defending his title in Portugal, while current SA Rally Driver’s Champion Mark Cronje won the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in 2002.
The 2012 event will be run at the new multi-million euro Portimao Karting Circuit, considered one of the most sophisticated karting venues in the world. The field will include 276 drivers (all national or regional champions) from 60 countries.
And in a unique motorsport occurrence, competitors in the Grand Finals will all be issued with identical brand new engines, chassis, several sets of tyres (wet and dry), a complete set of tools, a kart trolley, lubricants and fuel provided free of charge by the organisers.
