Australia’s mix of youth and experience will hit the track for the first time at Sarno in Italy for the 25th Rotax Max Grand Finals early Wednesday morning Australian time for its first time on track (livestream below starts 12:30am AEDT).
Headlining the Australian team will be Harrison Hoey in the DD2 category who doubles up from last year in the category, while Troy Bretherton will make another appearance in the DD2 Masters category.
Max Walton – who crested the podium in the FIA Academy last year – will spearhead the Senior Max representation for Australia.
One to watch in Junior Max will be livewire Gold Coaster, Hamish Campbell. He’ll have former Dunlop Super 2 star and Australian Kart Champion, Mat McLean twisting the spanners for him.
Queenslander, Scott Howard will be another Australian representation in the DD2 Masters category, however he’ll be representing Asia having qualified through their system, rather than Australia.
The team is being supported by Australian distributor of the BRP-Rotax product, Ian Black from IKD, who makes his first appearance at the Grand Finals in a number of years to continue to bolster the profile of Rotax among the Australian market.
Overall, it is one of Australia’s best represented teams in many of a year at the prestigious Grand Finals. Although down on numbers in years passed – mid 2024, IKD inherited the difficulties created by a previous distributor and is in a period of re-growth with support of the Austrian headquarters – it is anticipated the numbers from Australia (commensurate with the competitor support of the brand) will grow back to previous numbers in the future.
Speedcafe.com will be providing direct links to the livestreams throughout the course of the race week and updates on Team Australia’s progressions.
DAY ONE – ROTAX MAX GRAND FINALS – FROM 12:35AM WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 23 AEDT: