SOUTH AFRICAN KARTERS TAKE ON THE WORLD

This weekend in Italy, four South African Champion karters will take on the world’s best at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

Marc Murray, Caleb Williams, Mathew Swanepoel and Gary Marais will be up against 252 drivers from 55 countries – all of them champions in their national Rotax series – in this 11th running of the world’s most popular karting series. And our four champions have an enormous reputation to uphold for their country, at the La Conca circuit in Muro Leccese in the four day event run from November 19-21. Since the first running of the Rotax Max Challenge world series, no less than seven titles have been won by South Africans in the various class categories.

Gavin Cronje, Claudio Piazza-Musso, Mark Cronje, Christiano Morgado, Wesleigh Orr, Leeroy Poulter and Caleb Williams have all tasted the sweet victory champagne in previous Grand Finals held all around the world, and this year young Caleb Williams will be driving for his second title, albeit in a different category. Last year he won the DD2 Gearbox category, while this year he is competing in the 2010 non-gearbox Max Challenge championship. Unlike previous years where countries could send two or more drivers to compete, the size of the championship has grown so much that only the champions represent their respective countries. Over 7 500 drivers compete world-wide for the chance to go the Grand Finals each year.

The success of the Rotax Max Challenge karting series in the past decade has been down to two factors: incredible reliability from the Austrian-built water-cooled two stroke engines, and the equality of equipment dictated by the rules in the series. Absolutely no modifying of engines is permitted and the engines in all countries may only be opened for inspection and repair by accredited Rotax Service Centres.

This has placed a premium on driving ability and chassis set-up in the series, and has kept costs down as there is no room for the cheque-book approach, where super-wealthy karters can employ specialist tuners to gain them a vital performance edge.

In the 2010 Grand finals, each driver will be given an amazing package to participate. This includes a chassis from either CRG, Sodi or Haase (depending on the class), a brand new Rotax engine, a kart trolley and a set of tools. This ensures absolute equality in terms of chassis characteristics too, and it is up to the drivers to find the best set-up and claw their way to the top in each of the qualifying rounds, heats, pre-finals and finals which make up this intense four-day international karting showcase. As in each competing nation, the four South African champions representing our country had to race throughout 2010 in a gruelling series that comprised points won in numerous regional and national championship rounds.

This year there are four categories in the Grand Finals. They are the Rotax DD2 class for two-speed gearbox machines, with engines producing 24 kW, Max Challenge, single speed class with 21,5 kW, and Junior Max, a single-speed class with 15 kW for drivers from 13 to 16 years-old. The fourth class with Grand Final world status this year is for DD2 Masters, for drivers 32 years and older and for the first time this year the “toppies” will be competing in their own separate final, as previously they ran in the DD2 race with the younger drivers but competing in their own “race-whtin-a-race.”.

These are the South African Team Drivers for the 2010 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Italy:

Marc Murray, DD2 SA Champion: Aged 23, Marc has been competing since the age of six in karting and is the son of South African Rotax distributor Ed Murray. He won the SA DD2 championship in 2004, and also competed in the Grand Finals in the Canary Island that year.
For the next few years Marc competed in main track single-seater races with great success, his major achievements being placed fourth in international Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in England on two occasions, 2006 and 2007.

This year he was a last-minute entry in the 2010 DD2 first round of the SA national series, and won it after a long break from karting! This motivated a full crack at the series which he ended up narrowly winning in October at the Zwartkops Raceway. Marc helps run Ed Murray Racing when he’s not racing and is also studying for a business management degree. His favourite racing driver is Fernando Alonso.

Caleb Williams, Max Challenge SA Champion: This Grade 11 student at CBC Boksburg may only be 17 but he has already compiled a world-class racing CV. Having started at the age of six, he has won championships in Mini Max, Junior Max, KF2, and is the current world champion in the DD2 Class, having won DD2 in 2009 at the Grand Finals held in Egypt.

For 2010 Caleb decided to compete in the non-gearbox Max Challenge class as he felt the standard of competition would be higher, and he proceeded to add yet another SA title to his long list of achievements.

Going into the 2010 finals, Caleb says the format of the race weekend means “there’s no time to mess around. The aim is get through qualifying without drama, keep it in the top-five in the pre-final and go on to win the final.” Caleb concedes that with 72 drivers competing in his class luck is always a factor, but that “you also make your own luck.” Caleb’s favourite racing driver is Sebastian Vettel.

Mathew Swanepoel, Junior Max SA Champion: Mathew, aged 15, hails from Natal and is a student at Grace College in Hilton. When he’s not racing karts, his first love, Mathew plays cricket, hockey and tennis with equal determination. He started karting at the age of six and worked his way through the various formulae, and his 2010 victory in the South African Junior Max category is his first major karting title. He has competed overseas in another series, but says he is looking forward to the equality provided by the Max Challenge series, where all the chassis and engines are absolutely equal. Mathew is known as The Rain Man in karting circles due to his deft touch in the wet, which may well come in handy in Italy this weekend!

“You have to be ultra smooth and know your limits in the wet, and I’ve had plenty of practise in the wet, competing in KZN.” Mathew’s favourite racing driver? Sebastian Vettel.

Gary Marais, South African DD2 Masters Champion: Unlike his younger team mates, Gary Marais started racing karts nine years ago at the ripe old age of 32! Last year he competed in the Rotax Grand Finals in Egypt, having won the 2009 Masters category and this year he repeated the feat, edging out his main rivals John van Wyk and George Dos Ramos once again. A keen sportsman, Gary competed in the Comrades Marathon some years ago and still runs regularly to keep fit, which he says is vital for the latter stages of the races in the Grand Finals, which are long gruelling events!

“Last year I qualified 50th out of 72 drivers when we still ran with the youngsters in DD2 and I was only half a second off pole – it’s that close! This year I’m aiming to qualify in the top five now that the Masters have our own race,” says this 41-year-old, who plays a management role in a lubrication business. Gary’s favourite racing driver is Sebastian Vettel, but also the “old” Michael Schumacher.