Sofina Foods - Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals Preview

Toronto, Ontario – Sofina Foods of Toronto, Ontario, through it’s support of Canadian karting and an extensive training program, will have contributed to giving Team Canada the best prepared Junior team in it’s history. Canadian Nationals Vice-Champion Nicolas Latifi (CRG), Canadian Nationals podium finisher Austin Milwain (Tony Kart) and Western Canadian Champion Garett Grist (Birel) will make up the Rotax Junior drivers for Team Canada. 2010 marks the first trip for Latifi and Milwain while Grist makes his second straight appearance for the maple leaf nation. Sofina Foods is very proud to have supported the development of these talented drivers as they head to the Grand Finals in search of a world title. The goal of the Sofina Foods effort is to support karting and give accomplished athletes an opportunity to be the best they can be on the world stage. Team Canada is generously sponsored by Canadian Tire Corporation, Jim Russell Racing School, ASN Canada FIA and SRA Karting International.

The Junior squad descended on 3-S Go Karts of Sutton, Ontario over the past month to complete an intensive series of tests in preparation for the big show. Running the exact specification Sodi ST30 kart that will run at the Grand Finals, along with utilizing the MOJO D1 tire, the trio completed eight full days over three weekends including the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Showing tireless dedication to their program, the drivers completed over 250 laps per day in an effort to build the strongest team possible. Team tuners were able to complete a host of set-up changes as they dialed in on the right set-up for their driver. Working within the same tent as they will experience in Italy, the side-by-side effort was run under perfect weather and track conditions.

“We felt Sutton was the right place to be for what we were testing. We ran in the same clockwise direction as the boys will run in La Conca,” comments David Tennyson, coach for Latifi. “All the crew worked well on and off the track. Nathan (Brown), Rob (Milwain) and Jean-François (Valour) worked well in the paddock. Garett, Austin and Nicky really pushed eachother on track and got dialed in quickly. I am very happy with how the testing program went.”

The crew set-up the karts as specified by Rotax within the RMC program guidelines along with running the required carburetion and tire combinations. Over the final four days of testing the drivers completed a mock racing schedule, heading out on used tires for morning warm up, followed by a sticker tire qualifying run. The qualifying session was followed by three mock heat-races using the distance calculated from the 2008 RMCGF races run at La Conca. After the final heat-race the drivers did one final flat out, no limits run similar to what could be encountered in a Second Chance race. Limited to only making chassis adjustments and with no additional components added, the results were amazing.

“This was an amazing test program put together by Sofina. We ran the same data system on all three karts and could overlay after each sessions to understand the changes,” comments Brown, who has tuned at the La Conca Circuit on two previous occasions. “We got all three boys two within a tenth of each other consistently over the sessions. And we are talking about three really quick drivers, so that’s cool. We all now have our own set-up that works and we understand the kart and tire combination really well. I can’t wait to get there.”

Proof of the effort made by the squad is best found the numbers. The official track record in JR Max, held by Grist from 2009 BSRKC season running the D2 tire, was 40.25 seconds. All three drivers ran in the 39.4 range in the final days of testing on the same spec chassis. This major leap in speed and consistency is a great marker for the program and will help the drivers get a jump on the competition.

“I really want to thank Enzo (Chiovitti) for opening up his track to us,” continues Tennyson. “The weather turned out to be exactly what we can expect at La Conca. Enzo was a huge help and we thank him a lot.”

The Sofina Foods program is based helping Canadian karting series to be able to offer young drivers a goal and a prize to work towards. The program was developed to help the new Eastern Canadian Karting Championship as well as to support the Junior drivers going to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. The objective of the program is to support the series and the drivers in karting.

The Team Canada Junior drivers will head to Muro Lecesse, Italy beginning this weekend for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals being held at the La Conca Karting Circuit from November 16 to 22. For more information about this release, please contact David Tennyson at davidten@h10media.com.

Above, Nicholas Lafiti paces a Sodi-Kart during pre-RMCGF testing at S3-S Go-Karts (Photo by: Cody Schindel - Autosports Media Group)