Rotax Juniors Battle Extreme Conditions as De Alba and d’Orlando Score Wins

Nobody predicted that rain would fall immediately as the Rotax Junior drivers rolled off the grid for the first final of the day. With everyone on slick tires, drivers were forced to adjust and adapt to the extremely challenging conditions.

After a hairy opening lap with drivers scattering everywhere, Andres De Alba erupted with the lead. Marc-Andre Poirer had a great start and elevated himself into the top-three, all over the rear bumper of Micheal d’Orlando. Pole sitter Matthew Latifi struggled early, falling down the order as he struggled to find grip around the circuit.

As the rain continued to fall, albeit not heavily, De Alba hit every curb he could find and pulled away while Poirer worked into second over d’Orlando. Points leader Ryan MacDermid struggled to work his way around the circuit too and was fourth well back of the leaders.

The front three ran in order to the finish while MacDermid came under pressure from Stefano Lucente and Eamon Lowe on the final lap, barely holding the position.

Race 1 Results | Race 2 Results | Photo Gallery

Race 2

It was a rough start for the championship leaders De Alba and MacDermid in race two as contact from behind send De Alba flying over the top of MacDermid in a accident that collected five drivers. MacDermid retired a corner later after trying to resume while De Alba returned well behind the field. Christopher Chanko arose with the third position after the first lap accidents while Tommy Simard, Lucente, Patrick Woods-Toth and Poirer duked it out for fourth.

Out front, Latifi maintained his pole-position for the opening lap, but under pressure from d’Orlando. The two broke free and on lap three d’Orlando went to the lead in turn three with a deep lunge.

That was all it needed to determine the podium as d’Orlando opened a gap to Latifi with Chanko running all alone in third. At the finish line, Lucente scored his best result of the year while Poirer closed out a stellar weekend in fifth.

The championship will all come down to the series finale in three weeks time at Mosport Kartways as the series returns to Ontario. With a Rotax Grand Finals ticket on the line, it will be a great battle between MacDermid, De Alba and Latifi and any other challenger looking to take the spoils.

Michael d’Orlando enjoyed his first weekend the ECKC, scoring two podiums. (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)