The wait has been longer than anticipated but it is finally over. Officials at BRP Rotax have announced the location of the 2014 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. Making it’s return to Europe, the 15th edition of the Grand Finals will be in Valencia, Spain at the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero and will be held from November 25 to 29.
After not making the announcement at the previous Grand Finals, there was lots of conversation and many locations floating around the karting world throughout the winter as to where it would be. Some exotic, some expected and some new, but we at CKN rarely heard much about Spain until this morning.
The event will follow up the week after the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA as the two all-star events highlight the month of November. We were hoping there would be a gap in-between the two events, but once again that is not the case. Nonetheless, it is still nice that they do not fall on the same weekend.
Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero in Valencia, Spain
(Photo Courtesy: BRP/Rotax)
Coming off a very challenging Rotax Grand Finals last year, where Saskatchewans Scott Campbell (DD2 Masters) was the lone Canadian to earn a podium appearance and Patrick Woods-Toth stood third on the Invitational Micro-Max podium, Canada is hungry to return to the top of the podium in all categories.
Rotax Max Team Canada has already started to develop as Quebec’s Ben Cooper and Ontario’s Stuart Clark used the 2013 SKUSA SuperNationals to earn the first invitations. For the first time in many years, no Canadian driver qualified through the Florida Winter Tour or the Rotax Challenge of the Americas, both series we as a country has been very successful at in years past.
For the remainder of the year, Canadians will have a chance to qualify on home turf through the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship and Western Canadian Championship series, as well as the champions of the 2014 ASN Canadian National Karting Championships, held this year in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec in late August. Through these three championships, Canada will add ten drivers (3 Junior, 3 Senior, 2 DD2 and 2 DD2 Masters).
Finally, Canadians can qualify through the Rotax Pan American Championship, the October event in Mooresville, North Carolina.
With the location and date officially announced, it’s time for Canadian karters to get on track and start pushing to earn their ticket to the most international event of the season!