2009 World Karting Championship won on Bridgestone Kart Tyres
French driver, Arnaud Kozlinski was crowned 2009 CIK FIA World Karting Champion on Sunday 11 October 2009 at the Macau Motorsports Club, in a race which saw fantastic battles between some of the best kart racers in the world. Hosted in Asia for the first time, the 2009 World Karting Championship had to be halted five laps early due to rain, but this did not detract from the enormously exciting on track kart action.
Due to issues with the track surface, Saturday afternoon’s qualifying sessions were postponed to Sunday. Therefore Sunday began with the remaining four of six qualifying heats and the sessions were intensely competitive. Once all of the qualifying sessions were complete, it was Kozlinski who had earned pole position for the Pre-Final, with Vaino (Maranello / Maxter / Bridgestone) finishing second and Frenchman Manuel Renaudie (Gillard / Parilla / Bridgestone) third.
Kozlinski starts race from pole position
After comfortably winning the 13-lap pre-final with a two-second lead over compatriot Brandon Maisano (LH / Maxter / Bridgestone), Kozlinski started from pole position for the afternoon final ahead of Maisano, Vainio, Hanley, Renaudie and defending World Champion Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart / Vortex / Bridgestone) of Italy.
The final began with Renaudie charging ahead and grabbing the lead. The action-packed race saw Ardigo aiming for a third consecutive championship title; moving up swiftly to third by the second lap. Eventual champion, Kozlinski re-gained the lead on the fourth lap, only to have Ardigo snatch it from him shortly thereafter. Vainio followed suit demoting Kozlinski to third, before the pair made it past the Italian.
Rain began to fall ten laps into the race and though Vainio held on for the majority of the remaining laps, Kozlinski grabbed the lead from the young Finn just in time to win his first World Karting Championship. Meanwhile, Hanley had fallen back after an early incident. However the Briton brilliantly worked his way back up through the field to finish third.
Bridgestone kart tyres coped well with track
Kees van de Grint , Head of Track Engineering, said;
“Our tyre performance was quite good in terms of chassis balance and durability. Of course, the kart track condition was a little strange and grip levels were lower than we wished. However, our tyres still coped well with the repaired area of the track and also in the wet conditions. The racing was very exciting with a lot of overtaking, with a well deserved winner Arnaud Kozlinski dominating the event using Bridgestone tyres. This was 9th World Championship victory with a Bridgestone equipped driver in 21st century.”
2009 World Karting Championship Results - Top Ten Kart Racers
|
Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Nat |
Chassis / Engin / Tyres |
Gap |
|
1 |
20 |
Arnaud Kozlinski |
FRA |
CRG / Maxter / Bridgestone |
|
|
2 |
11 |
Aaro Vainio |
FIN |
Maranello / Maxter / Bridgestone |
+1.008 |
|
3 |
38 |
Ben Hanley |
GBR |
Maranello / Maxter / Bridgestone |
+6.103 |
|
4 |
18 |
Jonathan Thonon |
BEL |
CRG / Maxter / Bridgestone |
+7.376 |
|
5 |
35 |
Flavio Camponeschi |
ITA |
Tony Kart / Vortex / Bridgestone |
+9.255 |
|
6 |
12 |
Yannick De Brabander |
BEL |
Intrepid / TM / Bridgestone |
+12.612 |
|
7 |
6 |
Manuel Renaudie |
FRA |
Gillard / Parilla / Bridgestone |
+13.832 |
|
8 |
37 |
Alessandro Bressan |
ITA |
Kosmic / Vortex / Bridgestone |
+15.379 |
|
9 |
1 |
Marco Ardigo |
ITA |
Tony Kart / Vortex / Bridgestone |
+15.841 |
|
10 |
16 |
Simo Puhakka |
DIN |
PCR / TM / Bridgestone |
+16.917 |
Read articles related to "Kozlinski wins 2009 CIK FIA World Karting Championship":
Bridgestone's Karting Heritage
International Challenge of the Stars karting crown goes to Schumacer