For the second weekend in a row, Gianluca Savaglio has controlled a category from start to finish. Last weekend it was Rok Senior at the KartStars Canada Nationals at Shannonville and this past weekend it was Rotax DD2 at the Motomaster Canadian Karting Championships at the Mosport Karting Centre.
Making his first start in the Rotax DD2 category, Savaglio (VSR/TonyKart) qualified on the pole position Friday and remained in control through the heat races and Pre Final on Saturday.
When the green flag flew for the National Final, Savaglio checked out early, leaving Yuchen Ye (BCR/BirelART) and Lucas Pernod (BCR/BirelART) and the rest of the DD2 drivers behind.
It was a flag-to-flag victory that earned Savaglio a ticket to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, held later this year in Bahrain.
The race for second between the BCR teammates Ye and Pernod looked like it might heat up in the middle stages as Pernod closed in on Ye, but it appeared his setup faded and the two were separated by three seconds at the finish.
Fourth went to Louka St-Jean (PSL/BirelART) while Jordan Prior (Prime/CL Kart), a regular in Briggs Senior and a very last-minute entrant to the DD2 class, was fifth after getting no practice and fending off Griffin Dowler (Apollo/TonyKart) and Cederic Cataphard (PSL/BirelART) in the late stages of the race.
Motomaster Canadian Karting Championships – Rotax DD2 Final Results
1
Gianluca Savaglio
2
Yuchen Ye
5.845
3
Lucas Pernod
8.829
4
Louka St-Jean
9.338
5
Jordan Prior
14.024
6
Griffin Dowler
14.650
7
Cederic Cataphard
24.228
8
Zack Lalonde
9 Laps
9
Brandon Stephens
19 Laps
In Rotax DD2 Masters we saw the return of a two-time Grand Finals champion.
Pier-Luc Ouellette (BCR/BirelART) was in a different time zone all weekend long, lapping almost a second quicker than his fellow competitors in the DD2 Masters division.
In the Final, it was a mistake-free drive that led to a 25-second margin of victory to complete the first part of his rehabilitation goal.
Just over a year ago, Ouellette was involved in a boating accident that nearly cost him his right leg. After months of hospital time and recovery, including pins and a brace for seven months, Ouellette set a goal to return to karting and the Rotax Grand Finals in hopes of chasing title number three after retiring in 2015.
While he didn’t take home a ticket to the Grand Finals at Mosport, he leads the points in the two-race mini championship going back to Mont-Tremblant where the ticket will be awarded.
Coming home second in the race was Alexandre Gauthier (BCR/BirelART) with Rob Kozakowski (Apollo/TonyKart) completing the podium. It was a tight race for the position that included Jean-Phillippe Raymond (SH/SodiKart) and Pascal Aquaah (PSL/BirelART) also in the mix for second place.
Motomaster Canadian Karting Championships – Rotax DD2 Masters Final Results
