After three successful days of practice for the 2013 Florida Winter Tour, the Rotax Max Challenge groups finally hit the track on to set their grid positions for both Saturday and Sunday’s race days. Completing the day with two rounds of intense qualifying, the FWT has once again attracted some of the worlds best Rotax competition, with many drivers who competed recently at the 2012 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Portugal, competing in West Palm Beach, Florida, host of round #1 of the FWT.
Mini Max pilot Nicolas J. Brueckner (Birel) was the third driver able to claim pole-position for this weekend’s Florida Winter Tour action at Palm Beach International Raceway, with Anthony Gangi Jr. (Tony Kart) coming a close second in both session.
In Sunday’s Qualifying session Bruecker was half a second quicker than Gangi Jr. who was another three tenths quicker than third place driver Javier Gonzalez (Tony Kart). David Malukas (Birel) was fourth with Pserra Racing’s Antonio Serravalle (Tony Kart) in fifth followed by Kollin Stuart (Top Kart), Sergio Terife (Tony Kart), Pierce Dawlett (Tony Kart), Neil Verhagen (Arrow), and Michael Benyahia (Tecno) rounding out the top ten.
In Saturday’s Qualifying Brueckner and Gangi Jr. were this time followed by Ramirez in third, Malukas fourth and Terife in fifth. Gonzalez fell to sixth, Caio Callet (Kosmic) bettered his morning effort to qualify seventh, while Dawlett, Neil Verhagen (Arrow), and Alex Verhagen (Arrow) completed the top ten.
Saturday morning will see the last chance race for drivers who qualified from 29th to 43rd, with the top-six advancing to main event, with a pre final and final for race day on schedule.
