Lemieux Books His RGF Ticket in Junior Max

Antoine Lemieux is heading back to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, this time as a Junior.

Heading west to the Max Karting Group Canada Final in Warburg, Alberta, Lemieux took on a very competitive Rotax Junior division and needed a near-perfect weekend to capture the championship and the coveted Grand Finals ticket.

The weekend started perfectly on Saturday for Lemieux (Chapman Racing/TonyKart) taking the pole position before sweeping both the PreFinal and Final races to jump out to an early lead in the points race.

Gabriel Balog (RaceLab/JV Kart) was hot on his heels all race long, looking for an opportunity to pass on the challenging Warburg circuit, but it just didn’t arise he had to settle for second at the finish line just ahead of Toby Lien (BBR/TonyKart). A number of incidents in the race forced six drivers to watch from the sidelines.

Unfortunately for Balog, his championship hopes were dashed when he was relegated to last in the finishing order for a technical infraction, moving Lien up to second, Dylan Lambert (Paradise Racing/CS55) to third, Everleigh Kozakowski (RK/OTK) to fourth and Jeremy Zsamboki (Ricciardo Kart) into the top five.

Returning to the track on Sunday to crown a champion, Lien kicked off the day right, putting his TonyKart on the pole position in Qualifying and then finishing second behind Balog in the PreFinal to close the points gap to the leader Lemieux, who finished in third.

However the final was rather uneventful at the front as Balog got a nice push from Lemieux at the start to get ahead of Lien and from there, the three slowly separated from each other throughout the 15-lap main event. Balog cruised to the race win while Lemieux settled into second place, knowing that was enough to secure the title. Lien was close early on but couldn’t pressure Lemieux into a mistake.

For the second day in a row, Lambert finished in fourth place while Nathanial Prior (RaceLab/TB Kart) capped off a great day with a P5 finish, fending off Teryk Bodenstab (SCR/CL Kart) in the closing laps.

Lemieux will head to his third straight Rotax Grand Finals in Italy this fall as a member of Team Canada.

An impressive weekend for Lien not only earned him the vice-championship honours but also has put notice that he will be a driver to keep an eye on in the future. The same can be said for Balog, who is having a strong start as a Junior driver this season.