Follow along with our Team Canada updates from the 2022 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.
The dust has settled and the points have been tallied. Unfortunately, Team Canada has lost a number of drivers as only 10 have transferred to Saturday’s Grand Finals.
In Micro Max, Brando Londono and James Bedard will line up 26th and 27th. In Mini Max, Lucas Deslongchamps will start 19th. Junior Max has Jensen Burnett starting P14 while in Senior Max Adam Ali just snuck in and will start 31st. In DD2 Jason Leung starts on the inside of row nine in 17th while DD2 Masters has Jared Freeston starting 26th and Alexandre Gauthier back in 35th.
Griffin Dowler is aiming for a podium in E20 Senior, starting in P3 while Coco Chi will start 13th in her E20 Junior Final.
Sadly, for the remaining Canadian drivers, their Grand Finals are over and will support their fellow drivers from the grandstands on Saturday.
Prefinals
DD2 Masters
- 28. Alexandre Gauthier +20.397
- 32. Jared Freeston +28.369
Micro Max
- 13. Brando Londono +6.406
- 34. James Bedard +21.945
E20 Senior
Dowler finished third in the prefinal which should also be his starting spot in Tomorrow’s final after a fourth and a third in yesterday’s race
E20 Junior
Aixin Chi has been running in the top ten consistently this weekend but a DNF in the Prefinal will drop her down the starting order for tomorrow’s final.
Rotax DD2 Prefinal B
Like Taskinen, Pernod was in a position to transfer into the final but contact into turn 2 sent him out of the race and out of a chance to race in the final. Tough break for the Quebec-based driver who had great performances in the heats to recover from his qualifying position.
Rotax DD2 Prefinal A
- 11. Jason Leung +10.388
- 19. Olivier Bedard +13.442
- 34. Matthew Taskinen DNF
Jason Leung should comfortably make his way to the DD2 Final after his 11th-place finish in the prefinal. Olivier Bedard had one of his better races of the weekend in the Pre-final but still wasn’t able to do enough to make the final. It was a heartbreaker for Matthew Taskinen who was in a spot to transfer to the main in the early going until a mechanical failure took him out of the race ending his chances of contending tomorrow.
Rotax Senior Prefinal B
- 9. Adam Ali +2.438
- 19. Kevin Foster +8.355
Adam Ali had an impressive drive up the field to finish ninth which should be enough to transfer him to the final tomorrow as he was just outside the cut line in 38th. With a 19th-place finish Kevin Foster’s weekend, unfortunately, comes to an end as he didn’t make enough positions to make tomorrow’s final.
Rotax Senior Prefinal A
After a great start, Savaglio looked like he would be in contention to make it to Saturday’s final. However, contact with another driver took his nosecone off the kart and he was forced to retire from the prefinal. Disappointing for Savaglio as he wanted a chance to back up his 4th place finish in DD2 last year with a good result this weekend.
Rotax Junior Prefinal B
It was a tough race for Ziming Wang who needed a good result in the prefinal to make it to the main. After his 31st-place finish, he has been eliminated from contention for Saturday’s final.
Rotax Junior Prefinal A
- 6. Jensen Burnett +0.993
- 31. Ryan Maxwell +20.151
It was great performance by Jenson Burnett to make it to the finish 6th in his heat after running down the lead pack for the win of the race. Ryan Maxwell however was in contention to transfer to the final running in the top 15 mid-way through the Junior prefinal until contact sent him down the running order to 31st. This unfortunately will eliminate Maxwell from making the final after bad luck in heat 2 and most recently today’s prefinal.
Mini Max Prefinal A
- 8. Lucas Deslongchamps +5.119
- 14. Alexis Baillargeon +8.153
- 21. Edward Kennedy +11.280
- 23. Antoine Lemieux +11.933
Lucas Deslongchamps moved up two positions in the Mini Max prefinal and should easily make the main with his result in the prefinal. Alexis Baillargeon moved up 14 spots to finish 14th in the Prefinal however it may not be enough for him and fellow Canadians Edward Kennedy and Antoine Lemieux to make tomorrow’s final.
Friday – It’s go time!
The sun has finally arrived in Portimao and just in time for the PreFinals.
It’s Friday at the Grand Finals, the penultimate day of the event and unfortunately for some, their last day of competition. Every driver will compete in a Prefinal today, but for Mini, Junior, Senior and DD2, their grids will be cut in half after when only the top 36 drivers in points will advance to tomorrow’s Finals.
Many of our drivers are on the brink today and need to have a good run in their Pre-final to ensure a spot in the Final.
After the three rounds of heat races, the current points total will set the grids for the Prefinals and here is where our drivers rank after the heats.
Micro Max
- 23. James Bedard (45 points)
- 31. Brando Londono (56 points)
Mini Max
- 19. Lucas Deslongchamps (37 points)
- 53. Antoine Lemieux (73 points)
- 55. Alexis Baillargeon (74 points)
- 61. Edward Kennedy (84 points)
Junior Max
- 17. Jensen Burnett (36 (points)
- 37. Ryan Maxwell (58 points)
- 50. Ziming Wang (70 points)
Senior Max
- 38. Adam Ali (60 points)
- 39. Gianluca Savaglio (61 points)
- 64. Kevin Foster (84 points)
DD2
- 17. Jason Leung (30 points)
- 32. Lucas Pernod (53 points)
- 33. Matthew Taskinen (54 points)
- 43. Olivier Bedard (66 points)
DD2 Masters
- 24. Jared Freeston (43 points)
- 35. Alexandre Gauthier (61 points)
E20 Senior
- 4. Griffin Dowler (8 points)
E20 Junior
