Young Canadian driver Thomas Nepveu joined the BirelART Racing Team for the 2018 CIK FIA World Karting Championships in Sweden this week and has delivered a superb performance.
Competing against 113 of the best OK-Junior drivers from around the globe, Nepveu qualified ninth in his group, but when all of the groups were merged, he wound up ranking fifty-ninth.
Needing to do work in the heat races, Nepveu got off to a rough start with bumper penalties in the first two heat races, but he rebounded, especially on Sunday morning and finished with results of 17-13-16-11-9-7 to transfer directly to the Final, ranking 30th.
With no PreFinal to gain position, Nepveu needed a strong run in the Final to score a great result and he did just that. Moving up fourteen spots on track, Nepveu crossed the finish line in sixteenth position, and gained one more after the race to rank fifteenth overall in the OK-Junior world championship rankings.
Speaking to CKN after his race, Nepveu explained how the Final race went on track for him.
“The Final went pretty good. The first two laps were chaos as I found my way and managed to gain positon. After five laps the race settled down and I was able to put down some good laps and pass more people. At the end I finish fifteenth, with one penalty in the front, which is pretty good for my first appearance in the World Championship. Overall the weekend was really good and I am very happy with the result and the learning that I made this year in my European racing.”
And speaking about the BirelART Racing Team, Nepveu was very positive about his opportunity to racing in Europe this year with the famous Italian karting brand.
“It’s been a very fun year racing with BirelART. Even though we had some rough races, I learned a lot and I am confident with my team. I like the chassis and the people who are there for me as a driver, such as Davide Fore, who has helped me a lot all year to maximize the best of me. Ciano my mechanic and Coy [Arbour] were also there to support me and help me to gain experience and achieve the best in every races.”
Next up for Nepveu will be the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas, where he will return to the PSL Karting Team. After that, Nepveu will represent Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Brazil.
