7th May 2015

Kennedy continues impressive DD2 debut season with BirelART Australia

Ryan Kennedy took 2nd in DD2 while Joshua Car, Nicholas Andrews and Scott Howard all finished in the top five for BirelART Australia at Pro Tour Albury Wodonga (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Queensland’s Ryan Kennedy managed to stun the DD2 field in just his third event in the category, taking pole position and moving through to secure second while Junior Max’s Joshua Car, DD2 Masters’ Scott Howard and Rotax Light’s Nicholas Andrews all managed to bring home fourth in the third round of the 2015 Rotax Pro Tour at Albury/Wodonga for BirelART Australia.

A blisteringly close qualifying session in DD2 saw an impressive performance by Ryan Kennedy to take pole position with a 32.211, narrowly ahead of second by just 0.02 seconds. Kennedy backed up his flying start by taking the win in heat one and two, with second in heat three, returning him to pole position for the pre-final. Matching fastest lap times with his nearest rival in second, Ryan held on in a close battle for the lead, taking the race win in the end by one second in the pre-final. Sharing the lead throughout the longer 28 lap final, Kennedy settled for second, finishing just 0.1 seconds behind the race leader, boosting his position in the series standings with four rounds remaining.

On the back of his overall round win in Dubbo, Scott Howard qualified fifth in DD2 Masters, just behind fellow BirelART Australia driver, Dean Wanless with Howard’s time of a 32.790 placing him on the third row. A ninth place finish in heat three was improved upon in heat two with the Pacific Kartsport driver securing third, though a DNF in heat three dampened his improvements in the heats. Setting the fourth quickest time of the race in the closing laps, Scott Howard managed to finish a close fifth in the pre-final, with the Queenslander recording his quickest lap of the final on the penultimate lap before taking fourth.

In his best qualifying performance since joining the Pro Tour, Dean Wanless would start from the second row in DD2 Masters, recording the fourth quickest time with a 32.782. Two subsequent DNF race finishes in the first two heat races for Wanless would impact his grid position for Sunday’s first final with a fifth place result in heat three helping to improve his chances in the order. Late race pace for Wanless saw him set his quickest time just four laps from the end of the pre-final, finishing eleventh with the Sydney driver subsequently taking 15th in the final.

After securing his first round win in Rotax Light in Dubbo, Nicholas Andrews qualified fifth overall in the oversubscribed field with a 32.702, placing him in third for all three heat races. Two subsequent third place finishes in heat one and two for Andrews were then backed up by second in the third and final heat race, placing him in fourth for the pre-final. A fifth place finish in the second-longest race of the weekend would hand Nicholas a third row start for the final before taking a comfortable fourth in the final, helping to secure the Queenslander a healthy amount of Rotax ranking points.
On debut in the BirelART chassis, Cody Gillis made an impressive start by qualifying second overall with a 32.688. The result placed Gillis on pole position for his first two heat races and in second for the third with the Tom Williamson Motorsport driver taking his share of the top three places across the three heats, highlighted by a win in heat two with second in heat one and third in heat three. Starting from third in the pre-final, an unfortunate incident would see the Sydney-sider slip to 21st by the completion of the race, though a determined recovery by Gillis saw him rise to seventh by the completion of the final.

Reigning Australian Rotax Light Champion Brad Jenner launched his weekend by qualifying fourth with a 32.698, handing him a second place start for the weekend’s three heat races.

A second place finish in heat one was then soured by an incident in heat two with contact that saw Jenner drop to 14th by the completion of the race. The Victorian recovered strongly in the third and final heat race, taking the win, placing him in sixth for the start of the pre-final. After just one lap of the pre-final, Brad would unfortunately be caught up in a dramatic incident exiting turn three that resulted in a red flag, forcing him out of the race. A rapid re-build of his BirelART chassis for the final, starting from the rear of the field, Jenner steadily picked off his opposition, working his way to 13th. A post-race penalty due to a malfunctioning camera would see Brad disqualified from the race.

An unfortunate qualifying session for Mitchell Maddren saw him place 39th overall in the eight minute session. Starting within the top 20 in all heat races, Maddren worked through to achieve two 13th place results and 12th in heat two, subsequently seeing him start 25th in the pre-final. A hard fought charge by Mitchell in the pre-final saw him rise to 14th with mid-race pace in the final seeing him take 17th. Dane Smith qualified 36th in the large Rotax Light field, with an 18th place start set down for the three heat races. After finishing in that position in heat one, Smith worked his way to 13th in heat two and 14th in heat three, with the results seeing him start 33rd in the pre-final. A hard fought charge in the weekend’s penultimate race saw Smith rise to 16th, though an unfortunate result in the final saw Dane take 27th.

In a career best qualifying performance in DD2, Jack Smith secured the fourth fastest time with a 32.271, just 0.06 seconds behind pole position. A ninth place finish in heat one followed by a DNF in heat two was dramatically improved upon in heat three with fourth. After setting the fourth fastest lap of the race on lap 21 of 24 with a 32.538, Smith finished 15th with a recovery in the final to take 11th.

Joshua Car led another strong BirelART Australia Junior Max contingent in Albury/Wodonga, qualifying tenth overall, starting the three heat races from within the top six. Impeccable race pace saw Car rise to second in heat one before taking fourth and fifth in heat two and three respectively. Setting his quickest time just four laps from the end, Joshua engaged in an intense battle to finish sixth in the pre-final with Car again being involved in a close battle at the front before finishing fourth in the final.
On the back of his first ever Pro Tour podium in Dubbo, Hunter McElrea qualified 13th in Junior Max with a 32.718, handing him a start from seventh in the three heats. Taking ninth and eighth in heat one and two, McElrea then finished 20th in heat three, with the Queenslander set to start the pre-final from 23rd. An unfortunate DNF on lap five for Hunter would see him start from the tail end of the field in the final, working his way to 21st, being amongst the fastest drivers on track with a quickest lap of 32.967. In only his third event in the open Junior Max class, Jye Hopkins qualified 33rd in a field of well over 40, going on take 15th in the three heat races. A DNF on lap four of the pre-final would force Hopkins to start from the rear of the grid in the weekend’s longest race, with Jye performing similarly to team mate McElrea, picking his way through the field to eventually finish 25th.

West Australian Henry Lake qualified 23rd aboard his BirelART chassis in Junior Max, starting inside the top twelve for the heat races. Despite a DNF in heat two, a pair of tenth place finishes in heat one and three would place Lake in 25th for the start of the pre-final. A hard fought race saw Henry maintain his pace in the pre-final, finishing 25th, though a DNF on lap four of the final ended his chances of working higher up the order. Luke Wanless qualified 39th in the large Junior Max field, before finishing 18th and 19th in heat one and three with a DNF in heat two. Wanless’ results unfortunately wouldn’t allow him to make it through to the finals.

Round four of the 2015 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at Warwick, QLD from 5-7 June.