10th February 2012

Chris Hays joins forces with Energy Corse Australia - From Energy Corse Australia

Chris Hays will join the Energy Corse Australia team in 2012

The newly formed Energy Corse Australia outfit has made a significant announcement today with one of the country’s leading drivers, Chris Hays, set to compete aboard the Italian-made kart during 2012.

Newly appointed importer of Energy Racing Karts Adam Graham, who raced for the factory Energy team in Europe during 1999, is excited about the Queensland teenager lining up as a part of his outfit throughout the year.

“I’ve been working on the Energy Corse Australia project for almost 12 months now and it feels great to have such a young talented driver like Chris come on board with the product,” said Graham.

“Already I’ve had a lot of interest already from drivers and teams, a number of whom are high profile drivers, which is very pleasing considering the first shipment of karts only landed in Australia this week.

“It has been a bit of a rush to get a handful of karts out ahead of the major events, which start with the CIK Stars of Karting Series later this month and it looks likely that we’ll have three or four karts on the grid come round two of the series and hopefully we can build on it from there into other categories.”

While his chassis has changed from Tony Kart to Energy, Hays will again have the support of Telecommunications giant Vodafone for his 2012 campaign. It will be the sixth year that Hays has enjoyed the support of the worldwide company.

“It’s great to have the continued support of Vodafone as I embark on a new challenge with the team at Energy,” said Hays.

“I’ve really enjoyed my eight years with Tony Kart, moving to Energy was probably the biggest decision that I’ve had to make in my karting career because Greg Smith and the guys in the team have been fantastic to me over the years.

“However, since moving into the Gearbox ranks I’ve never been able to get a real handle on the set-up of the Tony Kart at that level and entering my third crack at the championship I needed to make a change.

“The Energy karts seem to be working well overseas in the KZ championships and with Adam Graham (the new Australian importer) having a close relationship with the factory in Italy I’m very confident of a good year.”

Hays hopes to have his first test behind the wheel of his Energy kart this weekend at home track in Ipswich.