KYLE ENSBEY KEEN FOR MORE EUROPEAN RACES

Kyle Ensbey in action aboard his Birel Motorsport entry in Sarno (Pic: KSP)

After getting a taste of competing at the highest level of his sport across the weekend in Italy, Queensland kart racer Kyle Ensbey (Sunshine Coast, QLD) has got a desire to compete in more races on European soil.

Despite enduring a challenging weekend at the KZ2 World Cup, Ensbey, who drove for the Birel Motorsport team while being backed by V8 Nights and Speedcafe.com, has already started making plans for a more extensive overseas campaign in 2013.

“To line up against around 100 of the world’s best gearbox drivers was just an amazing experience,” said Ensbey.

“It took me quite a while to adapt to the different track conditions, there was just so much rubber on the track from all of the karts. Then when I had a couple of mechanical issues in the heat races it put me even further behind the eight-ball.

“When I had a clean run I was able to show some good speed, especially in the final couple of heat races. I then blew an engine in the Sunday warm-up and was spun on the first lap of the B Final, which put me a long way behind the field. From there I put my head down and managed to climb back to 22nd place.”

Ensbey believes the experience will put him in a strong position to claim his maiden CIK Stars of Karting Series Championship at the Series’ final round in Melbourne on September 22/23.

Ricky Capo (left) and Kyle Ensbey (right) were Australia's representatives at the KZ2 World Cup in Italy (Pic: KSP)

Also competing in Italy on the weekend was Victorian Ricky Capo (Carrum Downs, Vic). Like his Australian counterpart Capo also had a challenging weekend, with the 16 year-old failing to make the cut for the B Final.

“I set myself a reasonable goal at the start of the weekend which was to simply learn as much as possible, which I can proudly say I certainly achieved,” said Capo.

“My results were below where I had aimed for, but the two chassis we were supplied with didn’t suit the conditions which made it very difficult to drive and set-up. The new layout at Sarno also made it very difficult to pass, so when you qualifying where I did it was very hard to move up the order.

“At times throughout the weekend I was able to show some of my potential, like in heat four when I went from 29^th to 14^th, and I look forward to racing more over here in Europe in the next few years.”

The event was won by Great Britain’s Jordan Lennox-Lamb who benefited when Max Verstappen crashed out with New Zealander Daniel Bray while Bray was in the lead on lap two.

Both Ensbey and Capo will return to Australia later this week before beginning their preparations for the final round of the CIK Stars of Karting Series presented by Castrol EDGE to be held in Melbourne on September 22/23.