Team Canada Has Arrived at the Rotax Grand Finals

21 drivers from Canada have arrived in Southern Italy, to the region of Napoli, for the 25th annual Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, ready to take on the world.

Nearly 400 drivers from 60 countries will compete this week at the Circuito Internazionale di Napoli, all for Rotax Grand Finals glory, one of the most coveted karting titles on the annual calendar.

Qualifying through events in Canada and the USA, Team Canada has a solid roster of drivers this year, with racers from Quebec, Ontario and Alberta winning tickets to compete, the only way into the Rotax Grand Finals.

Rotax is celebrating 25 years in Italy at the same circuit where they celebrated their 20th anniversary, albeit with a different track layout. The Sarno circuit is very fast, with big straights and flowing high-speed corners.

There is a mix of veteran Grand Finals racers and some first-timers on Team Canada this year and once again there are two pairs of siblings on the roster.

On Sunday, the drivers took part in the world-famous chassis raffle. Lining up all of the chassis in perfect formation, one-by-one they were all all raffled out to the drivers to use for the race week. Everyone then returned to the giant tent that acts as the paddock, to build their karts to their preferences and get ready to battle.

The world-famous Rotax Grand Finals chassis raffle – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

Monday is a full practice day. Racers will get three sessions to learn the track, get a feel for their new chassis and work out the bugs.

Tuesday will feature three more rounds of practice and the beginning of Qualifying where E20, Micro, Mini and DD2 Masters will put down their best times.

The remaining categories, Junior, Senior and DD2, will Qualify on Wednesday followed by the first set of heat races.

E20, Micro, Mini and DD2 Masters only get two heat races this year, while Junior, Senior and DD2 will run three heats.

PreFinals run all day on Friday to determine who will advance to Saturday’s Grand Finals.

It’s a long schedule for everyone, but Rotax keeps the entertainment going on and off the track.

For the first time in many years, Canada does not have a representative in Micro Max or Rotax E20. Instead, we have a powerhouse of drivers in Mini Max aiming for the podium. Four of them are making their Rotax Grand Finals debut, but we don’t see that slowing them down this week. The Mini Max drivers will race on BirelART machines this week.

In Junior Max we also have a great group of five racers gunning for the Rotax glory, led by Antoine Lemieux who is making his third straight Rotax Grand Finals start. The other four will compete at the Grand Finals for the first time and also drive a Praga Kart for the first time, so it will be interesting to follow along.

In Senior Max were only have a pair of racers this year as Timothe Pernod returns for his second year in a row while Mark Newson travels to the Grand Finals for the first time. Senior Max is always the toughest category to compete in at the RGF, and this year looks to be no different with a powerhouse group of racers from the United Kingdom to do battle with. They will race on Sodi Karts.

A small group in Senior means we have a large group in Rotax DD2, with six drivers suiting up this week in red and white. Four of them have been here many times before, while the Sabourin brothers qualified for Team Canada for the first time. Pernod, Bedard, Savaglio and Dowler have all been on Team Canada for at least the last three Grand Finals and will utilize that experience this week. DD2 will race on BirelART karts.

Closing out our squad is Rotax DD2 Masters where three drivers will do battle on CL Karts by BirelART. Steadily climbing his way forward in Canadian karting over the past few seasons, Marc-Andre Levesque earned his spot on Team Canada at the Canadian Championships. He’s joined by Jared Freeston, who competed in the 2019 Grand Finals at Sarno, along with David Laplante, who was a member of Team Canada last year in Bahrain.

Follow along on our social medias to keep up to date all week long with images and news on Team Canada.

The competition portions of each race will be live streamed as well, so be sure to subscribe to the Rotax Karting YouTube channel to watch live!

Rotax Team Canada 2024

MINI

• Alexis Baillargeon
• Massimo Lorusso
• Jeremy St Cyr
• Christian Sanguinetti
• Leo Da Silva

JUNIOR

• Ty Fisher
• Antoine Lemieux
• Pearce Wade
• Cole Medeiros
• Nathan Dupuis

SENIOR

• Timothe Pernod
• Mark Newson

DD2

• Lucas Pernod
• Ludovic Sabourin
• Olivier Bedard
• Gianluca Savaglio
• Arnaud Sabourin
• Griffin Dowler

DD2 Masters

• Jared Freestone
• Marc-Andre Levesque
• David Laplante