2010 Rotax Grand Finals gets in the core

On Tuesday, activities consisted of the kart raffle, kart assembly and the evening welcome party. The kart raffle is one of the most unique aspects of the Rotax Grand Finals. To ensure a perfectly level playing field, all competitors are issued identical specification karts and engines, which must stay in identical specification through the race event. Prior to the actual raffle, the karts were assembled by CRG, Sodi and Haase mechanics and hidden away in the paddock tents like special gifts on the night before Christmas.
At the end of the day, a welcoming party was held in the restaurant at the La Conca facility.

Yesterday, the morning began with the Junior MAX drivers meeting at 9:00 AM sharp, followed by Senior MAX and finally a meeting for DD2 and DD2 masters drivers. After the meetings, the Junior MAX drivers hit the track at 10:45.
The honour to be the first on the track went to the odd-numbered Junior MAX drivers for a 20-minute session, followed by the even numbered juniors, seniors and DD2 drivers. After lunch break, everyone got a second practice session for the day. Officially, today is listed as “untimed practice”. However, as usual and expected, almost everyone watching in the pits was timing someone. Of course, the times don’t mean anything official on the first day, but they do provide good dinner conversation for the evening meal.

The order of the day went from light jackets to something a bit warmer, but the weather remained nice and the hope is we can continue with sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the week.

Today is the day of the first unofficial timed practice, two 15-minute sessions for each class, followed by official timed practice. The times in the official timed practice (i.e. “qualifying”) will set the grids for the heat races that begin Friday. The action ahead assures to be first rate so be sure to check www.maxchallenge-rotax.com for news and photos.