Queenslander Kyle Ensbey is keen to make the next step in his career by chasing opportunities in Europe after competing at the KZ2 World Cup in Italy across the weekend.

Ensbey, who currently leads the Pro Gearbox Championship in the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Series, drove for the Birel Motorsport team while being backed by V8 Nights and Speedcafe.com at last weekend’s event.

Despite enduring a challenging weekend, Ensbey has already started making plans for a more extensive overseas campaign in 2013.

“To line up against around 100 of the world’s best gearbox drivers was just an amazing experience,” said Ensbey.

“It took me quite a while to adapt to the different track conditions, there was just so much rubber on the track from all of the karts. Then when I had a couple of mechanical issues in the heat races it put me even further behind the eight-ball.

“When I had a clean run I was able to show some good speed, especially in the final couple of heat races. I then blew an engine in the Sunday warm-up and was spun on the first lap of the B Final, which put me a long way behind the field. From there I put my head down and managed to climb back to 22nd place.”

Ensbey believes the experience will put him in a strong position to claim his maiden CIK Stars of Karting Series Championship at the Series’ final round in Melbourne later this month.

Also competing in Italy on the weekend was Victorian Ricky Capo. Like his Australian counterpart the 16 year-old also had a challenging weekend, failing to make the cut for the B Final.

The event was won by Great Britain’s Jordan Lennox-Lamb who benefited when Max Verstappen crashed out with New Zealander Daniel Bray while Bray was in the lead on lap two.

Both Ensbey and Capo will return to Australia later this week before beginning their preparations for the final round of the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Series to be held in Melbourne on September 22/23.