Winter Cup, Lonato, Lago de Garda (ITA)

305 of the world's best young karting drivers were in Lonato on February 12-16, among them Roy Shaw. Countries represented were:

Argentine, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Martinique, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, USA and nearly every European country.

Friday 14th February 2020

Warm-up

Friday morning’s warm-up was on a damp track, the team were nervous to go out and risk the new 2020 chassis, used only on Thursday for 4 practice sessions. Roy had fun, and was 10^th fastest in his session, ahead of many much more experienced drivers

Qualifying Report

Here it is:

.

Yes, that well known punctuation mark, a full stop.

Or in pictures:

Thanks Antonio (right), behind a quick driver!

And following his fast team-mate, cool!

The driver Roy is following is squeezed off-track on the last corner by his team-mate,

He goes into a zig-zag skid, Roy hits him.

3 following karts hit both, all 5 are taken out.

All stall their clutch‑less OKJ high compression motors.

3 manage to push-start and continue...

Didn't even cross the start line to start a lap...

35kg driver can't push 110kg kart

Practice the previous day had also been interesting, in the ancient Chinese curse sense...

Winter Cup, Lonato, Lago de Garda (ITA)

Eliminatory Heats

Friday 14th, Saturday 15th February 2020

Warm-up

Friday morning’s warm-up was covered in the Qualifying Report page, Roy was 10th in his session on a damp track.

On Saturday morning with normal track conditions, at their best for his session, Roy was 22nd in the session and 45th overall.

Heat C-D Friday 14th February 2020, 14h32

Roy was on the back row of the grid, as for all the eliminatory heats, because of having no qualifying time. In this heat the other affected driver was in last place, which Roy had for the other 3 heats. With unused tyres from no qualifying laps, Roy made a cautious start and was last across the start line, apart from a driver who spun off on the formation lap and didn't make the start. He made one pass in the first lap, and gained another place on lap two when another driver crashed. By lap 7 Roy had caught the field, and when he made another overtake on lap 8 was up to 26th because 3 more drivers had crashed. Roy held 26th to the flag.

Heat B-C Saturday 15th  February 2020, 11h32

Starting from last place (34th), Roy made a good start and was up to 27th by the end of lap 1, with an overtake and 4 karts eliminated on the formation lap. He steadily gained places with overtakes on laps 3, 5 and 10 and others going out, and crossed the line in 23rd, 22nd after others' penalties

Heat A-C Saturday 15th  February 2020, 14h32

Starting from 34th (last place), Roy crossed the start line in 32nd and was up to 30th by the end of lap 1, with 2 overtakes and 2 karts eliminated on the formation lap and 1st lap. He steadily gained places and crossed the line in 28th, 25th after others' penalties.

Heat C-E Saturday 15th  February 2020, 16h27

Starting from 33rd (last place), Roy crossed the start line in 31st and was up to 25th by the end of lap 1, with 2 overtakes and 4 karts eliminated on the formation lap and 1st lap. He crossed the line in 24th after several swaps of position with overtakes and re-overtakes, 23rd after others' penalties.

Winter Cup, Lonato, Lago de Garda (ITA)

SuperHeats Sunday 16th February 2020

Roy started the day not knowing whether he had qualified for the SuperHeats, dependent on the results of other competitors in the final heat, A-D.

Warm-up

Sunday morning with normal track conditions, at their slowest for his session, Roy set a good early pace in the top 5, and ended the session in 20th.

Here is what the competitors needed to keep Roy out of the SuperHeats.

They are shown with * if they were likely to beat the score, or a ? if it did not seem likely.

Before the heat Roy was 62nd, 68 qualify, so more than 6 of the ones behind would have had to beat the score to knock him out, although those ahead could drop behind which would help...

So, Roy was qualified for the SuperHeats, although it was mathematically impossible to qualify for the final.

SuperHeat 1 Sunday 14th February 2020, 11h29

Roy made a good start from 32nd on the grid, threaded his way via the grass through a first corner mayhem in which 5 karts were eliminated, 1 had also been eliminated on the formation lap, and made 3 overtakes to be up in 23rd by the end of lap 1. Roy drove well with good pace for the next 11 laps and made 2 further overtakes, and held 20th place from laps 8 to 12. Then as his pace dropped on lap 13 he was knocked off track and with dirty tyres lost places to cross the line in 27th, 25th after penalties were applied.

Click for full results