OSCAR PIASTRI 11TH IN PORTUGAL

Oscar Piastri in action during the opening round of the CIK-FIA European KF-Junior Championship in Portugal (Pic: KSP)

Australian Kart Championship KF3 points leader Oscar Piastri finished 11th at the opening round of the CIK-FIA European KF-Junior Championship in Portugal.

After being forced to start the final from 32^nd due to a time penalty and mechanical issues in the pre-final, Piastri was the hard charger during the 17 lap main event.

Driving a Kosmic kart Piastri elevated himself up ten spots on the opening lap before continuing to edge his way up the order to be running 12^th when the race was neutralised with two laps remaining.

He was then elevated up to 11th after Kusha Maini, who crossed the line third, was excluded for causing the incident that brought about the race to be placed under the full course yellow.

“After the pre-final, the team discovered I had a badly broken reed which was costing me a lot of power and I also got a time penalty which moved me to 32nd,” said Piastri.

“In the final, I started 32nd, and was up to 22nd after lap one and then kept it going from there. I’d like to thank my team, Ideal Kart, and my team boss Frank Cancelli, my mechanic Alex Baten for all the hard work he has put in over the last two weeks, Remo Racing, IAME, IBEA carburettors, Kosmic, HP Tuners, Dad for getting me here and happy Mother’s Day Mum! Thanks to everyone for the support, it means a lot!”

Piastri will now return home to compete in the next round of the Australian Kart Championship presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE in Monarto next weekend.