- Joseph Mawson leading the pack on the Angerville circuit (Pic: KSP)
Australia’s representatives in the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship endured a challenging time during round two in Angerville, France across the weekend.
Following three thirds and a fifth placing in Saturday’s heat races Joseph Mawson was poised for a strong result on finals day and challenge his more experienced European rivals for a spot on the podium.
Unfortunately, an incident midway through the opening pre-final, when he was challenging for second place, led to him being forced off the circuit and shortcutting the track. As a result, Mawson was excluded from the results.
After finishing 17th in the reverse-grid second pre-final Mawson started 29th in the final. He would run as high as 16th before eventually finishing 18th. A result that sees him slip from equal fourth to sixth in the championship standings.
Starting from position 18 in the final, Jacob Parsons made the most of his opportunities in the opening few laps to be running as high as tenth place before eventually claiming 13th place.
“I feel as though I’ve made a big overall improvement from last round, to be battle for a spot inside the top ten was very encouraging,” said Parsons, who moved from 33rd to 25th in the championships standings over the weekend.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t quite keep the pace for the entire race and finished 13th, but overall I’m very happy with the weekend and really looking forward to the final round in Bahrain.”
Local driver Anthoine Hubert dominated his home round to win ahead of Russian Seva Gagen. However, Gagen proved to be under the minimum weight at the end of the final elevating Italian Federico Savona to the runner-up spot.
In the Academy Trophy, Sydney’s James Abela endured a learning experience across the weekend in only his second-ever overseas event. Competing against 43 of the world’s best drivers between 13 and 15 years, Abela narrowly missed out on a spot in the 28-kart main event. He held down second place in the early laps of the B Final before dropping to 10th, he fought back for 7th place at the finish.
The next event in the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship and the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy will be held in Bahrain on November 8-10.
Also competing overseas on the weekend was Victorian Thomas Randle, who contested Round Five of the Super One Series at the Three Sisters circuit in England.
The Victorian teamed with Dan Holland Racing to compete in the Junior Rotax category.
After topping the timesheets for his group in qualifying, Randle was fourth overall in the qualifying standings. He then finished fourth and third in his two heat races before crossing the line fifth in the opening final.
Confident of being able to mix it near the front of the field in the main event Randle slotted himself into second place on the opening lap of the second final. Unfortunately, he was spun on lap two which dropped him to 26th and he recovered to cross the line in 17th position.
