8th July 2015

Top-10 success for Ricciardo Kart Junior Team in Ipswich

Ricciardo Kart Junior Team driver Taine Venables (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Round 3 of the Australian Kart Championship has seen a string of solid results secured by Ricciardo Kart Junior Team drivers after Sunday’s finals at the Ipswich Kart Track in Queensland. In the KZ2 class Brock Plumb powered his way to the team’s first Pole position of the AKC season on Saturday along with a heat win. Plumb finished an eventual eighth in Sunday’s final. Despite an engine failure early on KZ2 teammate Troy Loeskow qualified seventh to score a sixth and fourth in Saturday’s heat races. Loeskow ended Sunday’s final in 11th. After a promising start to the weekend Ricciardo Kart Junior Team driver Jackson Walls was unable to score in the KA12 final with a DNF result.

Showing a consistent improvement throughout the heats, KF3 Ricciardo Kart Junior Team driver Harrison Hoey posted a solid eleventh place in the final after scoring a seventh and ninth in the heats. Teammate Taine Venables produced quality runs all weekend to secure a top-20 finish in Sunday’s final at Ipswich.

“I am really proud of my drivers!” Michael Patrizi said. “They all put in 100% and have showed great speed and improvements from the opening two AKC rounds. The Ricciardo Kart Junior Team is full of young drivers with little experience and every day we hit the circuit we are getting closer to that victory. Brock and Troy were super quick in KZ and for Brock to secure the team’s first ever AKC pole is a massive achievement and one for the Ricciardo Kart Junior Team history books. We as a team made a wrong call on the way we went with the tune of the boys engines and that cost us a chance to fight for victory in the final. Jackson and Taine have both really stepped up their game and it’s an exciting time for the team as we continue to develop a strong army of aspiring young karting talent in Australia.”

Catch the preview show and on-demand coverage of Sunday’s heats and finals via www.karting.net.au. Round 4 of the Australian Kart Championship takes crews to Cameron Park Raceway for the New South Wales round on September 4-6.