WORLD CHAMPION TO BE ON THE GRID IN GEELONG NEXT WEEKEND

2013 World Karting Champion Tom Joyner will be in action at the final round of the Australian Kart Championship next weekend (Pic: KSP)

2013 World Karting Champion Tom Joyner will make his Australian debut when he lines up at the final round of the 2015 Australian Kart Championship presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE in Geelong next weekend.

The British driver will be joining the Zanardi Corse Australia team for the event and believes the Australian competition will be extremely tough.

“This is my first time racing in Australia and therefore it will be the first time that I’ve raced against all of these drivers, so it is going to be a very new experience,” said Joyner.

“Since I finalised plans to come out here I did some research and watched some of the racing in the Australian Championship, it looks like the standard of competition is extremely high.”

After landing in Australia earlier this week Joyner and team mechanic Flavio Andreatta have spent the past few days with the Zanardi Corse Australia team in Adelaide before they head to Melbourne this weekend.

“I’ve never been to Australia before so it has already been a fantastic experience to be able to see another new country,” said Joyner.

“We had a day off from building karts and testing on Wednesday that allowed me to see a few things, I even saw a Kangaroo which was really cool.”

For Zanardi Corse Australia’s David Brewer having Joyner as a part of his team for the final round of the Australian Kart Championship is as much about the development of his young drivers as it is for on track success.

“For the past two years we have been working on trying to get this deal together and finally I’m delighted to be able to make it happen,” said Brewer.

“The trip to Australia is as much about helping to develop the skills of our young Zanardi drivers as it is for Tom to show how good the Zanardi product is.

“We’re only a small team but we do everything possible to punch above our weight and hopefully we can find our way onto the podium in Geelong.”

Joyner and Dutchman Marijn Kremers will headline a star-studded field of KZ2 drivers where Jake Klarich, Kyle Ensbey, Jason Pringle and Chris Hays are set to dice it out for the John Pizarro perpetual trophy awarded to the Champion. It will also be the debut of three-time Australian Champion Pierce Lehane in the six-speed gearbox class.

Melbourne driver Brad Jenner enters the final round in a unique position of being in the box seat to claim dual Australian Championships by leading both the KA TaG and X30 classes. If successful in his quest for success he will become the first driver to win a pair of National Championships under a multi-round format.