Bittersweet MAX Qualifying For Team SA

Brilliant results peppered by crashes, technical issues

Team South Africa’s drivers enjoyed a bittersweet couple of days of qualifying and heat action at the 2022 Rotax Max ‘Olympics of Karting’ Grand Finals in Portimão, Portugal. KC Ensor Smith was the star in green and gold on a tough day at the office for several of his teammates, some of whom were caught out by heavy traffic in qualifying, while accidents and technical issues also had their fair share of affecting results.

After arriving at the Algarve circuit on Friday, each driver drew their identical brand new kart and engine in Sunday’s ‘raffle’. Two days of practice followed to tweak, tune, and hone their new equipment in a series of practice sessions. The real action commenced with qualifying sessions for each class on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. That determined the starting grids for the Qualifying Heats through Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.

With the top drivers from every Rotax Max Challenge from around the world racing up to 100 karts in most classes, the drivers were split into four groups. Each group then raced three times against each of the other groups. The driver’s points in those heats count towards a mini championship, with the top 72 qualifiers from each class going through to a pair of Pre Finals in each class on Friday. The top 18 of each then proceed to the Grand Finals on Saturday to determine the Rotax Max world champions in each class.

African Open winner Bradley Liebenberg qualified eighth for his opening premier DD2 gearbox class heat and emerged tenth from that red flag interrupted heat. Disaster struck in race 2 when Liebenberg’s kart stuck in gear and he was hit from behind by former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello to eliminate both of them. Brad bounced back to end sixth in the final qualifier to qualify 30th and will start 15th in his Pre Final.

SA DD2 championship runner-up Joseph Oelz qualified 20th and raced to 14th in both his first and second heats, before ending 26th in the final heat. He qualified 34th and will start his Pre Final 17th. Beset by a misfire, SA champion Sebastian Boyd ended 20th in his opening heat, 30th in his second race and did not start the third. Seb qualified 62nd and has his work cut out from 31st in his first Thursday Pre-Final grid.

DD2 Masters SA champion Eugene Brittz delivered a steady drive to end 11th from 13th on the grid in his opening heat. He then came home 13th in heat 2 to qualify eighth for his Pre Final. A novelty in this year’s Rotax Max Grand Finals, are the new E20 electric karts, where young Moosa Kajee flew the South African flag, rising from 12th to tenth in his opening heat before ending 14th in the second race, to qualify 12th for Friday’s battery kart Pre Final.

Shrien Naidoo made up seven places to 23rd in his opening Senior Max heat. A tough break saw him end 31st in heat 2 after he could not avoid a kart that spun in front of him. Shrien made good in his final heat, climbing 15 places to end 14th to qualify 45th and will start his first Pre-Final 24th. Karabo Malamelo ended up 31st in a rough first qualifier, 29th in the second and 27th in the third, to qualify 67th. He lines up 33rd in his Pre Final.

South African under-15 Junior Max champion KC Ensor-Smith was the hero of the SA team in the heats. He qualified a fine fifth for his first high school heat before driving to a splendid second in that first race. He ended 8th in heat 2 and fourth in the third race to qualify fifth and will start his Pre-Final in third.

Teammate Wian Boshoff qualified 31st but raced up to 23rd in Wednesday’s heat, before ending 19th and 18th in Thursday’s heats to qualify 42nd. He will start his first Friday Pre-Final 21st. Former SA champion Muhammad Wally racing for Bahrain, ended 13th, fourth and tenth to qualify 12th and will start his Junior Pre Final in sixth.

In the primary school classes, South African champion Caleb Odendaal suffered a difficult under-13 Mini Max qualifying in the traffic to grid 31st. He delivered a stunning drive, making up eighteen places to a fine 13th in his first heat, before climbing seven places to 24th in the second race and ending 29th in heat 3. He qualified 46th and will start his Pre Final in 23rd. Aadam Kajee meanwhile endured a tough heat to end up 29th in his first heat, 30th in his second and 31st in his last heat to qualify 66th and scrape into his Mini Pre Final in 33rd.

SA under-11 Micro Max champion Rafael Da Silva delivered a storming drive to make up sixteen places, eight on the opening lap, and eight on the second, to end up tenth in his first heat. His second heat was tougher, starting and finishing 23rd to qualify a handy 16th for Friday’s Pre Finals.

So, it’s all to do for Team South Africa in Friday’s Rotax Max Challenge Grand Pre-Finals. The objective is to finish in the top 18, to qualify for Saturday’s Finals in each class.
Follow the action on live stream via the newly launched Rotax Grand Finals website or right here on KART.CO.ZA’s Official Grand Finals page.