AUSTRALIAN TRIO SET FOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER IN SPAIN

Three Australian drivers are suiting up today for opening practice at the 2013 CIK-FIA European KF Championships at the MotorLad Aragon circuit in Alcaniz, Spain.

Italian-domiciled Sydneysider Joseph Mawson will compete with the Top Kart Racing team while his fellow Australian Motor Sport Foundation-backed driver Josh Smith will join Dimitri Agathos with the Kosmic Racing Team.

Mawson is coming off an 11th placing in the fourth round of the WSK Euro Series in Belgium recently while Smith and Agathos will be making their European debut this weekend. The latter pair did however complete a two-day test session with the Kosmic outfit at the circuit last week.

Qualifying will be held on Friday followed by heat races on Friday afternoon (local time) and into Saturday. The pre-finals and final will be contested on Sunday.

What the drivers had to say…

Joseph Mawson – Sydney, NSW (living in Italy during 2013)
“I feel very confident of being able to achieve a good result this weekend,” said Mawson.
“I’m coming off an 11th placing at the final round of the WSK Euro Series a couple of weeks ago, it was really good to be able to show that I had some good speed coming into the bigger events like the CIK European and World Championships.
“The best thing about my last result was the fact that I had to work hard for it coming from 33^rd in the pre-final.
“It’s great to see some familiar faces here from Australia in the pit area.”

Josh Smith – Townsville, QLD
“I’m really looking forward to the next few days that are coming up,” said Smith.
“We had a strong couple of test days last week with the Kosmic team, which I had learnt so much from. The weather is very hot here so got to make sure we keep up the hydration.
“As I go into the biggest weekend of racing in my career so far I’d really like to thank the Australian Motor Sport Foundation and everyone back home for the great support.”

Dimitri Agathos – Sydney, NSW
“I’m feeling great, testing went really well. My mechanic and I are working really well together,” said Agathos.
“The weather is nice over here, it’s like Australian summer. Over the next two days of practice I’m hoping to find a couple of tenths but the team are happy with my pace so far.
“I am so glad we came over early as the two test days last week have certainly helped. A big thanks to Hogs breath cafe for their support along with everyone from back home who have wished us luck for the weekend.”

There will be updates posted on karting.net.au along with the Australian Karting Association’s Twitter Feed (twitter.com/karting_net_au) and Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/AustralianKartingAssociation) throughout the event.

Further information on this weekend’s event can be found at http://www.cikfiachampionship.com/Euro_championship.asp