TOP TEN QUALIFIER FOR TROY LOESKOW IN ITALY (includes video)

Troy Loeskow in action during qualifying at the CIK-FIA Winter Cup in Italy (Pic: KSP)

Queensland driver Troy Loeskow led the way for Team Australia during qualifying at the CIK-FIA Winter Cup in Lonato, Italy on Friday.

The reigning Australian KF2 Champion qualified tenth fastest in the KF class that features 45 drivers from various parts of the world.

“It’s amazing to be here representing Australia and to qualify inside the top ten is fantastic,” said Loeskow.

“All throughout the practice sessions I’d been around tenth in my group which meant I was about 20th fastest, so to make such an improvement when it mattered most was fantastic.

“I’ll now start on the third row of the grid for each of my heat races, so hopefully I can get some good results and be in a good spot for the pre-final.”

Competing aboard the chassis bearing the name of Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo Loeskow is one of three Australian Champions competing at this weekend’s event in Australian colours.

Joining him on the track are Victorian Liam McLellan and Sydneysider Matthew Waters.

McLellan, who had been one of the front runners all throughout practice, seized an engine in the final practice session before posting the 16th fastest time. Such is the competitiveness of the class McLellan’s fastest time was a mere 0.085 seconds behind Loeskow’s but there is six places between them in the qualifying standings.

“It’s amazing how close it is out there, one tenth of a second can mean up to ten places on the grid because of the high level of competition,” said McLellan.

“It was disappointing to seize my engine in the morning warm-up but we made an engine change for qualifying and got back on track. Now, it’s time to focus on the heat races and move up the order and move up a few spots tomorrow.”

Waters qualified 33rd fastest and his focus will turn to ensuring that he moves up throughout the heat races to make a direct qualification into the final stage of the event.

Also competing at the event is Australians Brock Plumb and Lachlan Hughes who qualified 36th and 16th in the KZ2 and Mini Rok classes respectively.

Updates will be provided throughout the weekend on www.karting.net.au along with Karting Australia’s Karting Australia’s Facebook Page, Twitter Feed and Instagram account

A full timetable of events can be found by clicking here.

The event will be streamed live across the internet throughout the weekend on www.southgardakarting.it

Matthew Waters aboard the Ricciardo kart in Italy (Pic: KSP)