3rd November 2015

Ricciardo Kart Junior Team wraps up 2015 Australian Karting Championship with podium performance

Marijn Kremers (left) on the podium in Geelong (Pic: Coopers Photography)

The Ricciardo Kart Junior team has finished the 2015 Australian Karting Championship on a high with international star Marijn Kremers powering to a podium result in Geelong over the weekend.  After taking pole by over 0.6 seconds Kremers then won every heat without any problems. Unfortunately a problem off the start-line saw him fall back to third before recovering to second on the second lap. However the leader had already amassed a large gap and was just out of reach of Kremers who fell just short of the win in second. In the KA Junior final our newest member of the Ricciardo Kart Junior Team Jace Matthews absolutely flew home aboard his DR-AR28 Ricciardo Kart and despite starting from the back of the grid he push hard to finish fourth!

“I’d like to thank all our sponsors, supporters and everyone involved in the Ricciardo Kart Junior Team for an exciting debut year for the team,” said Team Principal Michael Patrizi. “After a perfect score in qualifying and heat races with pole position and three race wins we had to settle for second place in the final with Marijn Kremers in KZ2. A Less than satisfactory getaway off the start put Marijn back in the pack. However a gallant fight back to reel in a three second lead by Jason Pringle, the new Australian champion, showed everyone that the Ricciardo Kart KZ package prepared by Patrizicorse with the help of both IAME and VROOAM is the fastest package on track.”

Troy Loeskow showed plenty of speed across the weekend and produced the fastest lap in heat 1 and was always among the top-7 fastest drivers all weekend. Contact in the final after a mistake at turn 1 caused significant damage to the front end of his Ricciardo Kart which, after 27 laps of the 35 lap race forced him to retire. After a strong result in qualifying Brock Plumb couldn’t quite find the rhythm in the final and ultimately ended up with a DNF after a promising start. Lochie Hughes produced a great drive in the KF3 class despite being having no experience of the circuit and only one dry session all weekend. Contact in the final unfortunately held back on what a great weekend he was having as his speed was always inside the top-10 throughout the weekend. Fresh to the Ricciardo Kart Junior Team in the KA TaG category Rhys Astley started 24th on the grid and climbed an impressive 11 spots to finish the final in 13th. Contact caused Astley to retire from two heat races whilst inside the top-10 but despite this it was a fantastic effort for his first time at the Geelong circuit.

“Unfortunately Loeskow made a mistake at Turn 1 on the opening lap after showing great speed all weekend, damaging his kart and retiring from the race,” added Patrizi. “Lochie Hughes drove a great final showing why he will be a force in the future aboard his Ricciardo Kart in KFJ. Rhys Astley suffered damage to the rear crash bar which caused severe rubbing over his rear left tyre. Rhys however showed great speed all weekend. Jace Mattews performance to finish fourth from last on the grid was nothing short of spectacular and I look forward to watching his future progress to one of the country’s top kart drivers. A big thanks to our sponsors in 2015; Ricciardo Kart, VROOAM, Vega, Bell Helmets, SP Tools, Freeline, Freem and AIM. Your support has been a crucial in helping team evolve into race winning form throughout the year. Thanks for a great year and see you in 2016 in red and white!”