Strawberry Racing’s Luke Varley underlined his huge talent by dominating the Rotax Grand Finals at the Ghibli Raceway, near Sharm El-Sheikh (Saturday 12 December).
Having secured pole for the pre-final, Luke went on to dominate it – winning by over five seconds. He was made to work hard for victory in the Grand Final after dropping a couple of places during the opening lap. However, as the lead pair began to tussle, Luke seized his chance and, with an incisive move, regained the upper hand. From there he was able to open a gap and maintain it to the chequered flag.
Strawberry team principal Warwick Ringham was understandably delighted, “Luke drove fantastically well. Because everyone’s on the same equipment, it all comes down to driver ability and who’s got the best set-up and ultimately, who wants it the most.”
He added, “This year he’s won Kart Masters, finished second in the British Super 1 championship, won the European and now the World title – Luke’s just really good, isn’t he?!”
Indeed, such has been the impression that Luke made in Egypt and with his performances throughout the season that he has been invited to compete in the Florida Winter Tour - and there is a possibility that he could land a drive with Paul Spencer’s Tony Kart Junior Racing Team in 2010. Varley also won a test with Van Amersfoort Racing in a Formula Renault 2.0L.
The team’s other drivers experienced varying fortunes. Formula Renault graduate, Joseph Reilly returned to complete his karting career, but after a series of misfortunes found himself in the repercharge and was unlucky not to qualify for the main final after a questionable black-flag.
The team’s sole Junior representative Henry Hunter was making his World finals debut, and acquitted himself admirably. Facing a steep learning curve, he came through the heats and pre-final to qualify well for arguably, the biggest race of his career to date. An intelligent drive saw him thread his way to an eventual 8th place at the finish.
Warwick said, “Henry did really well. This was a new experience for him but the more laps he did, the better he got. In fact, what he achieved was fantastic.”
Strawberry is open until Wednesday 23 December and will re-open Monday 4 January. Warwick and all the team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
For more information about Tony Kart and OTK products, go to www.strawberryracing.co.uk |
