The final day of the Homestead rounds of the 2013 Florida Winter Tour took place on Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. A gentle fog greeted competitors as they arrived at the track, predicting a very warm and humid day in south Florida.
Ignacio Salvucci (TonyKart) took the holeshot going into the first corner of the Rotax Junior pre final ahead of Thomas Issa (Kosmic), and the PSL Karting trio of Gustavo Bandeira Lopes (CRG), Pedro Cardoso (CRG), and Austin Versteeg (CRG). Issa took the lead from Salvucci in turn five on lap five as further back Antoni Ptak (Birel) took the fifth position from Versteeg. That’s when the action would start to heat up as Lopes got dropped to the seventh position and Cardoso, Kyle Kirkwood (TonyKart) and Ptak would complete the top-five behind Issa and Salvucci. On lap eight Ptak and Jack Weprin (FA Kart) passed Kirkwood for the fourth and fifth positions. At the line the top five positions would remain the same as Issa took the win ahead of Salvucci, Cardoso, Ptak, and Weprin.
In the Final, Thomas Issa led from the pole-position ahead of Cardoso in the second and Salucci in the third spot. The top four drivers of Issa, Cardoso, Salvucci and Ptak would put a four-second gap to Juan Manuel Correa (Praga) in the fifth position. Up front, a mistake by a corner worker, saw Issa narrowly miss an idle kart on track, but unfortunately for Cardoso he would not be as lucky, ending his race on the spot, and elevating everyone behind up a position. Ptak would trail Salvucci for majority of the race as the Polish driver would look for the best place to take the second position from the Argentinian. Further behind the top three Gavin Reichelt (TonyKart) took the fourth position from Correa and he would now be five seconds behind the leaders. Issa would eventually go on to take the win, his second of the weekend ahead of Salvucci, Ptak, Reichelt, and Correa.
The third and final round of the Florida Winter Tour will take place at the Ocala Gran Prix karting facility in Ocala, Florida. The tight and twisty facility in north Florida will see the Rotax racers complete their final two race days to determine each class champion on March 22-24.
