From KartStars Canada Champion to ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour front runner, Jordan Di Leo has been making waves this winter in preparation for an intriguing 2025 Canadian karting season.
We caught up with Jordan as he walked us through his insights on lessons learned, highlights and team leadership from a promising FWT campaign.
“At this level, you have no choice but to be focused all weekend long. I had to learn this the hard way in Round 1, but I was pretty happy with how I bounced back in Rounds 2 and 3.”
Jordan Di Leo is another Canadian who made the annual pilgrimage to the U.S to compete over the winter. Racing in VLR Senior for the entire three rounds of FWT, this would mark the beginning of Jordan’s second season as Senior, but his first time competing as one in FWT. To make things more exciting for Jordan, he was returning to his honorary U.S home track of Orlando Kart Centre for rounds one and two of the championship.
Jordan’s fairy tale winter campaign would have to wait, as his first round didn’t go quite as he hoped. Starting the weekend with a botched qualifying was the first of the numerous disappointing situations for Jordan. This led to an uphill battle through the heat racing, where he still managed to progress up the field. Unfortunately, the good times abruptly ended as he found himself in a handful of bad situations, getting shunted to the back of the pack in the Final.
Although the weekend was a tough pill to swallow for the 15-year-old, he drew many valuable lessons from the aggressive experience of racing in the mid-pack.
“You need to have consistent finishes in the heat races, and then when the finals come around, it really does take on a ‘attack or be attacked’ type of mentality.”
Leaving the first round, Jordan was questioning if he was truly ready for this type of racing. It was a difficult decision on whether he was going to return for the second round of the championship. So, when he decided to throw caution to the wind and take on round two, it was with redemption in mind.
Rounds two and three are where he more than made up for his disappointing round one performance. Jordan’s second time around at Orlando Kart Center proved very successful as Jordan grabbed a top ten result in Qualifying, keeping it consistent throughout the heats and being rewarded with a fifth-place finish in the Final.
Jordan continued this positive momentum going into the final round in Texas, where he further improved his qualifying performance to eighth and showed off his winter growth by Wheelin’ and Dealin’ his way up the field to grab another fifth-place finish.
Jordan also remarked on what it was like to drive with Goodwood Kartways and work side by side with his family.
“Having my dad’s full focus at these events is the major difference for me. He sees things before they even happen, and believe me, I’ll hear about it.”
Being a constant presence under the Goodwood tent has also allowed Jordan to develop close relationships with many of the other drivers with the team, often offering support and advice to many of the young drivers.
“It’s pretty cool being one of the older drivers under the tent. I feel like I’m a big brother to a lot of the Goodwood kids, and watching some of them competing at the front makes me proud.”
Now entering the Canadian season, Jordan has his eyes on both the KartStars and the Ontario Interclub championships. Given the addition of Mosport Karting Centre and Hamilton Karting Complex, 2025 is set to be one of KartStars’ most exciting seasons yet. With the goals of continuing to mature as a driver, improving his race craft and mentoring the next generation of Goodwood drivers, Jordan is excited to get going on what is likely his most competitive season to date.
