19th February 2015

WINTER CUP EVE FOR TEAM AUSTRALIA TRIO IN ITALY

Team Australia drivers (L-R) Liam McLellan, Matthew Waters and Troy Loeskow.

A trio of national karting champions will be flying the Australian flag at the CIK-FIA Winter Cup in Italy this weekend.

Melbourne teenager Liam McLellan, Sydney’s Matthew Waters and Bundaberg driver Troy Loeskow are representing Karting Australia in the 20^th running of the prestigious event at the South Garda circuit.

During the past two days of practice McLellan has shown significant promise aboard the Ricciardo kart with the 17 year-old consistently posting times inside the top ten fastest of the 45-driver field in the KF class.

“The pace so far has been good but there is still a long way to go,” said McLellan.

“It is my first event in Europe so everything is very foreign.  It is an honour to be wearing the green and gold against the world’s best and hopefully I can post a good result across the weekend.”

Waters, who contested the World Karting Championship in Macau in 2012, believes the experience of racing in Europe is very different to Australia.

“The whole experience is new, to be here in Italy with one of the world’s most professional teams is something that is very different to the way we do things in Australia,” said Waters.

“The circuit is not to dissimilar to what we have back in Australia, the conditions are a bit colder than what we are used to but the track characteristics are all the same.

The three Australian drivers will be competing in the KF class where there are 45 drivers entered

“The focus here is to try and gain as much experience as possible that I can then take back to Australia and put to good use.”

Like his Australian counterparts Loeskow, the reigning Australian KF2 Champion, believes he will gain valuable experience by competing at the highest level of karting this weekend.

“It’s not until you come over here to Europe and see all of the massive teams and transporters that you realise how big the sport is across the world,” said Loeskow.

“All of the best drivers from all around the world are here and the weekend is going to be a very big learning experience.  So far it has been a steep learning curve but I think we are making some good progress and I’ll be aiming for a good qualifying tomorrow.”

Also competing at the event that has attracted 253 drivers from more than 36 countries are fellow Australians Brock Plumb and Lachlan Hughes in the KZ2 and Mini Rok classes respectively.

Updates will be provided throughout the weekend on www.karting.net.au along with Karting Australia’s Facebook Page, Twitter Feed and Instagram account

A full timetable of events can be found by clicking here.

The event will be streamed live across the internet throughout the weekend on www.southgardakarting.it