PSLKarting.com

dimanche, mars 13 2011

Team PSL Karting contested its fourth race weekend of the season when February came to a close as the Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge headed to Palm Beach International Raceway. PSL was once again the most international of groups, as 32 team drivers represented three Canadian provinces and six American states, along with Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. And represent they did - as for the fourth-straight event PSL took three wins from the weekend.

The tally also showed three poles, five fastest laps and nine total podiums as six different drivers climbed the steps at event two. Main among them was new DD2 driver Michael Vincec, as after just being edged for pole in the first qualifying session he was never beaten on track for the remainder of the weekend. His sweep of the points led to the championship lead through two of three rounds, and has the CRG veteran feeling very positive about how the season is taking shape.

"Palm Beach was a great weekend from the start and we never ran into issues throughout the event," Vincec said upon his return home. "DJ Silva had the kart set up just right and I just had to be patient through the first half of each race. Then I knew it would be hard to beat by the end."

The set-up was most definitely on, as in a very competitive DD2 class, Vincec became the class of the field. In the Saturday prefinal he moved to the lead just past half and never looked back, and in the final he took the lead on six and ran over two seconds clear of the pack. It was the same story in the Sunday prefinal - lead on four and cruising at the checker - and the Sunday final proved his best work of the weekend. Shuffled to fourth at the start, Vincec ran the first half of the final in third, patiently waiting for his CRG to come in. Running in a three-pack of karts at the front, Vincec moved to second on lap eleven, set his best of the race on sixteen, and took the lead on lap seventeen. Contact behind then eliminated any challenge, and he was over ten seconds clear at the checker.

"Sunday was definitely a challenge, but we were focussed and pushing hard to the end," he said of his second win. "That’s really the goal for the season: to be competitive wherever we go and to keep the PSL package on top of the podium."

Felipe Fraga was another PSL driver to show his best work on Sunday, and he very nearly put a PSL package on top of the podium in an epic Rotax Senior showdown. The lead line in this race was upwards of fifteen karts long before a crash severed it at ten near half distance, and Fraga was top-three throughout while leading multiple times. Further contact reduced the podium candidates to six, and when Fraga was shuffled to fifth spot on lap twelve his own podium hopes looked to take a serious blow. Yet the Brazilian was unfazed, and quickly worked back to third on consecutive laps. Afterward he became isolated in the position, but when the lead pair scrapped and defended over the final tour, Fraga quickly closed, recovered second in the final hairpin, and held in a drag race to the line!

A number of other PSL drivers had great weekends at Palm Beach. Austin Versteeg was the man to beat in Rotax Mini-Max. After qualifying third and winning the Saturday prefinal with fastest lap, he was third on the podium. Then Sunday he started third once again, repeated the prefinal win with fastest lap and scored a convincing win in the final where he led all but the first lap of the race. The win gave the Utah driver the championship lead through two rounds, the same position Anthony Gangi Jr. finds himself in when drops are applied. Tossing his third race after some very irregular flagging, Gangi now sits at 700 from his three best starts, tied for the top in defending his crown. He rebounded to finish second on Sunday, the same position teammate James Dean Laderoute finished on Saturday. He now sits third from his three best starts, just twenty points back headed to the finale.

Through four Rotax Max Challenge events in 2011, PSL Karting has recorded 11 poles, 12 wins, 27 podiums and the fastest lap of the race 22 different times. The team is now prepped for the final rounds of both the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas this coming weekend and the Florida Winter Tour which wraps March 25-27 at Ocala Gran Prix. Full team results can be seen below.

Michael Vincec - 1st, 1st

Nicholas Latifi - 20th, 11th

Rene Martinelli - 3rd, 3rd

Eric Beltrami - 8th, 7th

Paul Carvalho - 6th, 10th

Michel Legrand - 9th, 5th

Michel Legrand - 8th, 8th

Martin Janson - 20th, 22nd

Felipe Fraga - 15th, 2nd

Gerald Caseley - 18th, 15th

Victor Cabrera - 20th, 48th

Nick Rivellini - 27th, 23rd

Michael Tejeda - 38th, 24th

Simon Lauze - 43rd, 36th

Dominic Legrand - 37th, 39th

Alessandro Bizzotto - 45th, 40th

Johnny Flute - 48th, 44th

Alex Van Snick - 15th, 25th

Alexandra Gamache - 24th, 63rd

Gavin Reichelt - 27th, 30th

Sarah McKay - 52nd, 40th

Buddie Munn - 55th, 43rd

Sean McPhee - 50th, 56th

Matt McMurry - 63rd, 53th

Austin Versteeg - 3rd, 1st

Jeffrey Kingsley - 9th, 5th

Matthew Thomas - 10th, 11th

Javier Vargas - 13th, 21st

James Dean Laderoute - 2nd, 5th

Anthony Gangi Jr. - 29th, 2nd

Dylan Tavella - 32nd, 6th

Giovanni Bromante - 19th, 34th 

Derek Carmenate - 27th, 20th