RMCGF: Soaking Wet Grand Finals Title for Jueri Vips in Rotax Junior

After a very long week of action at the Kartodromo International Lucas Guerrero the moment had finally arrived. Championship Saturday at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Valencia, Spain featured a major twist in the plot as heavy rain arrived after a mostly dry event thus far.

The big challenge arrived in how the new facility would manage the weather, seeing as the region doesn’t feature rain often and the drainage was a concern.

After a round of morning warm ups in light rain, the skies really darkened and before the Rotax Juniors even arrived in Parc Ferme, officials delayed the event by 30 minutes to let the storm system pass.

First up for their PreFinal was Rotax Junior and when the lights went out, visibility was zero. With so much standing water on the track, officials halted the race before the first lap was even completed, with more than half going off the track in the opening lap.

With the rain still falling and conditions getting worse the event was suspended. Looking at the weather and amount of time, the event resumed at noon but officials cancelled the PreFinals, meaning every class was going straight into their Grand Finals.

When the lights finally went out again it was Belgian driver Max Timmermans who took the early lead with David Wooder (Great Britain) running second. With lots of water still on the track, the conditions were very tricky for drivers and action was everywhere.

Wooder and Timmermans scrapped in the middle stages, allowing Jueri Vips (Estonia) and Jesper Sjoeberg (Sweden) to join in on the action. The four had an intense battle as the conditions dried up through the middle before the rain came pouring back down for the final three laps. At the finish line it was Vips taking the victory and the Grand Finals title over Wooder and Timmermans. Sjoeberg and Max Hofer (Austria) completed the top-five while Americans Sting Ray Robb and Christian Brooks finished 27th and 29th, both finding themselves pointing in the wrong direction on multiple occasions.

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Everything was flying on the opening lap of the Rotax Junior Final. ABOVE: Jueri Vips of Estonia celebrates his victory. (Photos by: Cody Schindel/CKN)