Challenge of the Americas Confirms Four Rotax Grand Finals Tickets for 2013

Preparations are underway for drivers from across the world to compete at this year’s Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Portimao, Portugal on November 28-December 1. This year, three drivers will contest for the Rotax world title in the DD2, Senior Max, and Junior Max categories thanks to their championship performances at the Challenge of the Americas series this past winter. The international Rotax Max Challenge series is now proud to announce a fourth Rotax Grand Finals ticket has been awarded to the program for the 2013 season, beginning January 11-13 in Tucson, Arizona.

For the past three seasons, the driver who secures the championship in DD2, Senior Max, and Junior Max have earned a ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals for that season, representing his/her country along with the Challenge of the Americas program. This year, Fritz Leesmann, Phil DeLaO, and Zacharie Scalzo will compete in Portugal under their respective country flags thanks to the Challenge of the Americas. With the addition of the DD2 Masters to the ‘Olympics of Karting’ event held every year, the United States-based series is granting a fourth ticket from BRP-Powertrain, promoters of the Rotax Max Challenge, thus giving four drivers the opportunity to claim a spot at the Rotax world championship.

Series promoter Andy Seesemann has been a longtime supporter of the Rotax brand and could not be happier with the addition of the fourth Rotax Grand Finals ticket to his program.

“The DD2 category is not as popular as we’d like to see in the United States, but world-wide it’s becoming the class to race, as we will see at this year’s Grand Finals. Since the inception of the DD2 Masters class at the Grand Finals, it’s caught the attention of many Masters drivers in North America, and the class is steadily growing. Now with Challenge of the Americas offering a Rotax Grand Finals ticket for the class champion, I expect to see a growth in numbers for our series in that class for 2013, along with the rest of our categories.”

The Challenge of the Americas will once again offer all seven Rotax Max Challenge categories for the 2013 season – Masters Max, Mini Max and Micro Max the remaining three classes. The schedule will host six rounds of racing on three weekends between January and March, based in the southwest section of the United States. Drivers from across the U.S., as well as Canada and several other countries – including as far as Brazil and Australia – have competed in previous editions of the program. Multi-time Aussie Rotax champion David Sera and former Canadian and Rotax Grand Finals champion Scott Campbell rank among some of the top competitors to sample the Challenge of the Americas racing action.

The year is scheduled to kick off at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona on the January 11-13 weekend. The following month is a return to the Copper State and the PKRA Formula K Raceway north of Phoenix on February 8-10. The series will then complete the final two rounds of competition and crown the 2013 champions at the CalSpeed Karting circuit outside the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California – March 8-10.

For more information on the 2013 Challenge of the Americas events and to follow updates as the season draws closer, bookmark http://www.gatorzkarting.com