Pernod Holds Off Rizk and St-Jean for Rotax DD2 Victory

It was mission accomplished for Lucas Pernod this weekend in Mont-Tremblant after securing the Rotax DD2 Final at the Canadian Open. Early this season Lucas Pernod set his sights on securing a second trip to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals to represent his home country and with his win on Sunday, he secured that invitation.

All weekend long it was a tight battle at the front where Christophe Rizk (ETI Racing/CL Kart) and Olivier Bedard scored the heat race wins but Pernod (BCR/BirelART) got ahead and won the PreFinal, setting up a showdown in the Final.

Pernod grabbed the lead on the opening lap but Rizk remained close while Louka St-Jean (PSL/BirelART) had a great start to slip into third place ahead of Bedard.

Alberta’s Matthew Taskinen (TAG/CRG) and Gianluca Savaglio (REM/Kosmic) were also in the mix early on as a pack of six was formed.

Through the middle of the race, the front three began to pull away from the rest, with Taskinen, Bedard and Savaglio battling hard.

Up front, it seemed as though Rizk was just waiting for his moment to make a pass but as the laps ticked away the pass never came. Pernod was solid out front and made no mistakes and St-Jean kept the pressure on the two of them.

Building a gap just big enough in the final few laps, Pernod made it difficult for Rizk to attack at the end and held on for the win, the biggest of his career thus far. Rizk had to settle for second, holding off St-Jean on the final lap.

Bedard and Taskinen completed the top-five after Savaglio initially crossed in fourth but was penalized five seconds for contact that moved him down to seventh.

Next month the Rotax DD2 racers will compete at the Canadian Karting Championships with a second invitation to join Team Canada for the Rotax Grand Finals. Who will join Pernod in Portugal, we can’t wait to find out.

Canadian Open Rotax DD2 Final Results