Armstrong Digs Deep At Latest WSK Round
| press release | 13 April 2015 |
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Kart ace Marcus Armstrong had to dig deep for a hard-won eighth place in the KF class Final at the third round of the 2015 WSK Super Master Series at Muro Leccese over the weekend.
The pace the 14-year-old from Christchurch showed on Finals day on Sunday was in stark contrast to that in practice on Thursday and Friday and even qualifying and the heats on Saturday. And though he felt a bad start in the Final cost him a possible podium, the former New Zealand champion was happy to advance a couple of places in the series points standings - from 15th to 13th.
Above: Kiwi Marcus Armstrong at a recent WSK Super Master Series round
pic -
Fast Company/Tony Kart
"We struggled with speed all through qualifying and heats day, but we changed a lot on Saturday night and it was a big improvement for the Finals, " Armstrong said on Monday.
The young Kiwi, who drives for the works Tony Kart team, finished sixth in his Pre-Final and eighth in the Final, the latter won by Russian driver Alexander Vartanyan with series leader Karol Basz sixth and arch-rival (and Armstrong's teammate Nicklas Nielsen) a dnf but still second in the points.
Buoyed by his Sunday pace Armstrong is now looking forward to the fourth and final round of this year's WSK Master Series at Sarno near Naples in a fortnight's time.
"We had the pace to challenge for a podium in my opinion, which is a massive step from qualifying and the heats. But," he said, "our first few laps of the Final cost us as it was very rough and I missed out on a couple of positions."
2015 WSK Master Series Rnd 3 Muro Leccese (La Conca) Lecce Italy Thurs-Sun April 09-12
KF Final
1. Alexander Vartanyan (Russia/Tony Kart/Vortex/Vega)
2. Leonardo Lorandi (Italy/Tony Kart/Vortex/Vega)
3. Felice Tiene (Italy/CRG/Parilla/Vega)
4. Richard Verschoor (Switz/Exprit/Votex/Vega)
5. Casper Roes (Great Britain/FA Kart/Vortex/Vega)
6. Karol Basz (Italy/Kosmic/Vortex/Vega)
also
8. Marcus Armstrong (NZ/Tony Kart/Vortex/Vega)
Points after Rnd 3 of 4
1. Karol Basz 220 points
2. Nicklas Nielsen 180
3. Alexander Vartanyan 150
4. Lenardo Lorandi 120
5. Casper Roes 97
6. Felice Tiene 80
also
13. Marcus Armstrong 47
Calendar
Rnd 1 Adria International Raceway Thurs-Sun March 05-March 08
Rnd 2 International Circuit 7 Laghi Thurs-Sun March 19-22
Rnd 3 International Circuit La Conca Muro Leccese Thurs-Sun April 09-April 12
Rnd 4 International Circuit Napoli Sarno Thurs-Sun April 23-26
