Loeskow doesn’t get cold feet after icy weekend - From the Bundaberg News Mail

FAST TRACK: Bundaberg's Troy Loeskow competing at the Winter Cup in Italy.

DURING one of the coldest weekends in his racing life Bundaberg’s Troy Loeskow leaned some valuable lessons while he competed at the 20th Winter Cup in Lonato, Italy, for Team Australia.

After finding the going tough in the early stages of the event Loeskow found pace and posted the 10th fastest time in a field featuring some of the best KF2 drivers in the world.

But he was victim to a rule introduced to get the European drives used to open-wheel racing by protecting the front spoiler of the kart. Loeskow was hit with a time penalty for dislodging his front spoiler.

Loeskow was forced to drive in the second-chance race Sunday morning, with fellow Australians Liam McLellan and Matthew Waters, and when he and Waters came together that was the end of his weekend.

Waters was forced out of the race, McLellan crossed the line fourth and Loeskow fifth and appeared to gain a spot on the grid for the final. However, it was deemed that Loeskow’s front fairing had come adrift in the race which led to him receiving a 30-second penalty and out of the finals race.

In motorsport some weekends everything goes right but for Loeskow his time in Italy could have been better.

“Qualifying was very good and I was confident going into the heat races but I just didn’t have luck on my side and was involved in a couple of incidents that cause my nosecone to be damaged,” Loeskow said.

“I thought I’d made it through the last chance race and it wasn’t until we went to the grid that we found out I received a penalty which was a very disappointing end.

“Overall though, it has been a fantastic experience and I’d like to thank everyone involved in putting this opportunity together and I can’t wait to put what I learnt this weekend into practice back in Australia.”

Loeskow thanked Karting Australia, Lee Hanatschek, Ricciardo Karts and Michael Patrizi for giving him the opportunity.

The cold feeling Loeskow got from the Winter Cup has not frozen his enthusiasm and he added he was planning to use the experience he gained in Italy during the Australian season and when he hopefully races overseas in the future.

His next major event will be the opening round of the Australian Kart Championships in Port Melbourne on April 3-5 where he will race in the KZ2 class.

Also competing this weekend were Queenslanders Brock Plumb and Lachlan Hughes in the KZ2 and Mini Rok classes respectively. Plumb was eliminated in the opening turn of the second chance race after starting tenth while Hughes claimed eighth in the final of the Mini Rok class.