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| December 03, 2012 |
| Driver News: Christian Cole Completes the 2012 Rotax Season with Strong 2nd Place Finish |
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 | | Christian Cole |
Following his 1st win in the Rotax Junior class at the pervious round of the Homestead Fall Championship series Christian was looking for more victories in the final round of the 2012 season.
Friday practice had over 20 Rotax Juniors from all over the United States and other parts of the world getting prepared for the upcoming Florida Winter Tour (FWT) taking place during the first quarter of 2013. Additionally all of the drivers would have the challenge of adjusting to the introduction of the harder compound Mojo D1 tires. Reports were a nearly 1 second drop off in performance compared to the softer D2 tire. Christian would initially start the day on the D2 tire to establish a target time before switching to the D1. Christian was immediately able to adjust to the lack of overall grip and was able to post a time only 1 tenth off of his target and would spend most of the day at or near the top of the time sheets
Saturday morning qualifying would see 22 drivers all competing for pole position. Christian would post a very quick lap the put him in 2nd position for the start of the pre final. Christian would hold his position in the pre final giving him another front row start for the final. Contact with another in the final would see Christian fall back several positions to 5th. Christian would come back to overtake the same driver and would end the race in 4th position.
Sunday qualifying would be another good session with another 2nd place grid position for the pre final.
The pre final was an exciting race with allot of overtaking in the opening laps. Christian would fall from 2nd to 5th before climbing back to 3rd putting him on the inside of the 2nd row for the final.
The final would not get off to the best of starts with the outside row getting the early start into turn 1 pushing Christian back to 4th place. The first half of the race saw Christian setting the fastest laps of the race as he overtook both the 2nd and 3rd place drivers. Christian would not have enough to challenge for the lead and would end the race and the season with a strong 2nd place position on the podium.
Christian’s strong finish to the season resulted in 2nd place in the Homestead Fall Championship series.
Christian added “ This was a fun weekend of racing. Switching to the harder D1 tire on Friday was challenging. I looked at other series where only certain drivers were using the D1’s and the times were around a second slower compared to drivers using the D2’s. I expected to see a similar result when I switched to the D1’s. The first few laps were tricky with the biggest difference being the lack of grip under hard braking and initial turn in which made overtaking a bit more challenging. Fortunately I was able to adjust by about my 4th lap on the tires and my time was only 1 tenth off my time on the D2 tire. By the end of my first practice session on the new tires I had already adjusted to them and was ready for the rest of the weekend. For the weekend I was disappointed not to get pole position on either day after being so close. I guess it’s not bad considering there were over 20 drivers from all over the country. On Saturday contact with another driver put me back a bit in the final and I could only get back to 4th place. On Sunday I was able to finish 2nd but didn’t have enough speed at the end to catch the leader Jack Weprin. I kept turning laps that were very consistent trying to put pressure on him hoping for a mistake but he drove very well and didn’t give me any opportunities.”
Christian’s father Rodney added “ Christian did a great job all weekend. There were so many good drivers from all over the country and Christian had to push harder than ever. He showed very good speed in practice and kept it all weekend. In the end I didn’t give him a kart capable of winning on Saturday or Sunday so he just had to get the maximum out of it and hope for a bit of good fortune. He did very well to get a podium and to secure 2nd place in the Championship in only his first season in a full size kart. Having just turned 13 and to be competing at this level against some drivers that are 2 to 3 years older than him is very encouraging for the upcoming season.”
As always thanks go out to our sponsors TCB Products and Global Components for their continued support.
With the start of the 2013 race season only a month away we are looking to add additional sponsorship partners for the New Year.
For information regarding sponsorship opportunities please email christiancoleracing@gmail.com |
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