The Florida Winter Tour got under way today at Homestead-Miami Speedway in sunny south Florida, USA. The Formula Kart weekend kicked off the six round winter championship with TaG, Shifter and Briggs & Stratton classes all hitting the
track for two separate race days this weekend.
After a short off-season Saturday was the official kick off to the 2014 karting season. It was a great day for the Canadians on track, scoring podiums and victories in multiple classes.
The format for the event has qualifying before two heat races set the grid for the Final.
Here is our Canadian rundown of Saturdays event.
TaG Cadet:
It was a great day for a pair of brothers in the 32-strong TaG Cadet category, the youngest class on track. Nicholas and Micheal d’Orlando (who both hold duo Canadian and American citizenships) swept the front row in Qualifying, with Nicholas on Pole, and controlled the class all day long. Michael went on to win both heat races with his brother in tow before setting up the Final. Tyler Gonzalez completed the podium.
The Final was much of the same with Michael taking the victory and Nicholas second. Matthew Latifi was fifth at the stripe while Matthew Barry and Lachlan Defrancesco finished 16th and 17th after some early race action forced them to fight back from the rear.
TaG Junior:
Making his Junior debut this weekend in Homestead, Canadian Roman DeAngelis placed his Koene USA TonyKart on the pole-position in TaG Junior Qualifying.
DeAngelis backed it up throughout the day, eventually finishing third after starting the final outside the top-five. Kami Moreira Laliberté was ninth in the Final and Gianfranco Mazzaferro was 12th while Antonio Serravalle suffered a DNF in Junior debut.
Junior was won by Columbian Christian Munoz with Mexican Javier Gonzalez second.
Shifter:
Another Canadian driver was on top of the podium on Saturday as Indy Lights racer Matthew Di Leo scored the victory in Stock Moto. Dominic LeGrand barely missed the win in the Open Shifter category, ending second, the same place his father Michel finished in Masters Shifter.
TaG Senior:
Zachary Claman DeMelo took on a challenging TaG Senior division and wound up sixth today. New PSL Karting/CRG driver Daniel Formal scored the win with Mike Giessen and Dan Roeper completing the podium.
Briggs & Stratton:
There was a second Canadian 1-2 finish today, as Kevin King and Mathieu Demers dominated the Briggs & Stratton debut at the FWT. The PSL Karting duo were in a world of their own, while Colin Daley Jr finished third.
The series resumes tomorrow with round two at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
