PIASTRI RETURNS TO EUROPE FOR 2015 CAMPAIGN

Oscar Piastri will compete with the Kosmic team in Europe during 2015

After a stellar European debut last year, Oscar Piastri will return to Europe to compete at karting’s highest level against the world’s best drivers.

The 13 year old student at Haileybury College and member of the Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club will compete in the KF Junior class at all three rounds of the European CIK Championship, the WSK Super Master’s race and the pinnacle event of world karting, the CIK World Championship in Italy.

Oscar will drive for the highly regarded Kosmic team of Ideal Karting, managed by Frank Cancelli and will again team up with Alex Baten as his mechanic. After his impressive podium performance at the X30 World Final at Le Mans last year, Oscar has also earned himself a factory team sponsorship from IAME for KF Junior engines.

“I’m really excited to announce this big schedule in Europe for 2015. I especially want to thank Frank Cancelli, Alex Baten and Remo Luciani for believing in me and providing me this fantastic opportunity. It’s amazing that I will have IAME factory race team engines this year and I hope I can get some good results for the whole team. After taking a few weeks summer break doing some water skiing with friends and family, I’ve been practicing almost every day and hope to continue my training and fitness program throughout the year. I really have to thank my sponsors HP Tuners, IAME, Remo Racing, James Sera’s Karting Centre, J&A Kart Tuning, RaceRender and VCM Performance. Also big thanks to my mentor James Sera for all his help and advice, my family for supporting me and my school for allowing me to chase my dream”, said Oscar.

Oscar’s mechanic Alex Baten shares his experiences.

“In 2014 my friend Frank Cancelli from Ideal Kart asked me to work with a young Australian driver, Oscar Piastri, in the X30 Junior class at the X30 World Final. My first impression when I met Oscar and his father Chris was fantastic. Oscar was generally calm, but a little bit nervous about his first race in Europe but normal and very studious. During the first test day I saw Oscar driving a little too stressed, especially the position of his hands on the steering wheel, which we improved. We also improved his braking points, we tested a few things on the kart setup and he showed he could make good lap times for qualifying. The evening qualifying session was very wet, but he managed a good lap time giving him a third row starting position for the heat races. In the heats he drove very relaxed but with a good focus. Unfortunately, in the pre-final he had a few drivers crash in front of him but he managed to restart from last and finish in P22 but his lap times were very good, the fastest in the race. Before the final, I spoke with Oscar and told him to always drive relaxed but focus 200 percent and he will get a good result. He drove an amazing race starting from P22 to finish P3 on the podium, again setting the fastest lap time of the race. We were all very happy for this great result!”

“It is a pleasure to work with Oscar again in 2015 because he gives me the same feeling that I had when I worked with Jenson Button in 1996.”

“Last year, I worked with a European driver in KF Junior and we achieved such good results he is now an official driver at Birel Art and can drive for free. I hope to make the same good results with Oscar because in my eyes Oscar is the better driver and has a great potential if he is prepared to work hard.”

Remo Luciani, the Australian importer for IAME engines and Kosmic chassis said, “I am proud to be part of Oscar’s next step on his journey to fulfilling his dream of a motorsport career. I followed Oscar’s performance step by step at the IAME World Final and I must say that I was very, very impressed by his performance and especially his lap times. For someone who has never driven a Junior X30 before and despite being unfamiliar with the product to go into a World Final at the highest level against some of Europe’s best and experienced Junior drivers and finish 3rd in the final from 22nd on the grid was fantastic. From my experience in karting, for a driver to have such speed it is just a raw talent. In a class where everyone is using an engine and tyres within one tenth of one another, the only variable is the driver. This shows me that Oscar has got what it takes to make it all the way. After this impressive performance I took my case to IAME about this special gift Oscar has and IAME agreed with me to support his efforts at the highest level with factory team engines for all European KF Junior races.”

“I am confident that Oscar will achieve good results in this next level then the sky is the limit for him. I wish Oscar all the very best for this up and coming season on behalf of Remo Racing and IAME.”

Keith Prociuk, HP Tuners CEO and current GT1 North American Road Racing National Champion, had this to say, “Oscar’s skills are amazing. He definitely has the talent to succeed in motorsport and HP Tuners are proud to support him in achieving his karting goals.”