Karting news: Young Australian scores factory drive at World Kart Champs

Australia’s latest motorsport export – Mika Lemasurier (PIC: Tim Francis/AKC)

Queensland teenager, Mika Lemasurier will become Australia’s latest motorsport export when he takes on the World Karting Championships at the PF International facility in the UK across the weekend of September 13-15.

In a deal struck between BirelART’s Australian importer – Patrizicorse – and the BirelART factory, Lemasurier will have full access to factory equipment as part of the race team. As a lead-in to the worlds, next weekend he’ll take part in an RGMCC promoted event.

However, PF International is far from his mind at the moment with this weekend’s SP Tools Australian Kart Championships in Melbourne on the line.

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He heads into the weekend leading the KA3 Senior Australian Championship by 29 points. Incredibly, he didn’t compete in the opening round and entered round two as a ‘confidence boost’ after a troublesome opening round in X30. He has gone on an incredible run of form taking two wins and a second in the category.

In X30, he enters the Oakleigh event sitting sixth on the pointscore, however is in striking distance to get himself as high as third in the title race.

Through this year, several international drivers have been to Australia to represent the brand, which has provided benchmarks for Lemasurier to compare himself against.

BirelART Australia/Patrizicorse team principal, Michael Patrizi told Speedcafe.com that the odds are stacked against him, but believes he’ll give it a ‘good go’ given the drive has – rarely – been awarded on merit through his results in Australia.

“From my side it’s always great to see our drivers get opportunities with the elite teams in Europe,” said Patrizi. “There is no question Mika has the odds stacked against him because he is going straight into the big dance, in their backyard.

“He has been given this opportunity on merit from BirelART, which is odd these days in our sport, so I am sure he will take the opportunity with both hands and give it a good go.

“He has been a great ambassador for the performance of our Brand here always racing at the front, I am sure he will do himself proud.”

Michael Patrizi

President of BirelART, Ronni Sala, believes the two race events will see Lemasurier acquit himself well.

“(Mika’s) results in Australia consistently in our brand make him worthy of this position,” said Sala. “He has the opportunity to acclimatise in the RGMCC event prior to the World Championship were we think he can be showcasing his true talent and that of BirelART.”

BirelART was founded in 1959 under the Birel brand. It merged with FIA F2 and F3 team (then GP2 and GP3) ART Grand Prix, which was owned by renowned driver manager, Nicolas Todt. During the time of the Ricciardo Kart, the Birel factory was chosen as the manufacturer.

The SP Tools Australian Kart Championship this weekend takes place at the Oakleigh Kart Club outside Melbourne with entry free to the public. Practice begins tomorrow with qualifying Friday afternoon before heats Saturday and Finals Sunday. It will be livestreamed through mysportlive.tv

Tags: birelart fia karting mika lemasurier sp tools australian kart championship