Pernod Successfully Defends Canadian Open Rotax DD2 Title
A dominant weekend for Lucas Pernod in the Rotax DD2 category has earned him his second Canadian Open title in a row and his third ticket to compete in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals as a member of Team Canada.
It wasn’t an easy weekend as pressure from Olivier Bedard (Premier Karting/OTK) and Gianluca Savaglio (PSL/BirelART) kept Pernod (PSL/BirelART) honest throughout the heat races but when the Final went green, it was all Pernod and he led every lap of the race that mattered most.
Completing a big comeback after trouble in Qualifying forced him to start all the heats at the rear, Samuel Lupien (CRT/BirelART) moved into second place on the second lap of the race, overtaking both Savaglio and Bedard, giving him hope of a chance to battle with Pernod. The lead pair would pull away but Pernod managed the gap perfectly and Lupien was never able to come within one second of the race leader, settling for second place at the finish line and the fastest lap of the race.
The race for third was the one to watch as Savaglio and Bedard went toe-to-toe in the second half of the race and it brought in the chasing pack of Yu Chen Ye (REM/Kosmic), Cederic Cataphard (CRT/BirelART) and Ludovic Sabourin (BCR/BirelART).
After some scrappy racing, Ye erupted from the final corner with the third position in hand just ahead of Bedard and Cataphard but the positions would be mixed after a number of penalties were issued post-race.
When the dust settled Pernod and Lupien were joined by Bedard on the podium in third place with Cataphard and Ye completing the top five.
With the victory, Pernod will join Team Canada for the third year in a row at the Rotax Grand Finals, heading back to Bahrain where he got his first chance in 2021. The race for the second ticket on Team Canada will come down to the ASN Canadian Karting Championships in Hamilton, Ontario in August where Lupien, Bedard, Cataphard and the remainder will duke it out to see who can score the most points between the two events.
“It wasn’t as easy of a weekend as it seemed. A lot of hard work went into preparing and executing. We started out really strong but knew if we didn’t keep pushing we would get caught up by the end. I’m really looking forward to the Grand Finals after showing a good pace for the past two years but having a lack of experience made it hard.”
– Lucas Pernod
