Jay Coul is back in 2022 and he is looking to try and win the KZ2 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship.
Coul has been a regular front runner in the series but is looking to go one step further in 2022 and take out the big one. Coul is back running under the Parolin Karts Australia / Shamick Racing banner with support of the Midfield Group and Snap on Tools Australia.
In a near full capacity field qualifying was going to be ultra-important! Coul hit the track for the all important qualifying session and was straight into to mix jumping into the top ten drivers. The Shamick Racing backed entry jumped straight in the front group and was pushing on the edge of the top five to get as far up the grid as possible. With only tenths of a second separating most of the top ten, Jay did a sensational job to land on the outside of the third row in position six overall! The team were now looking to tune the kart up and move forward in heat one.
Coul starting off the third row of the grid, he had a nervous start to his opening heat with multiple extra warm up laps due to a start light issue. This allowed the Parolin Australia driver to move up multiple spots off the start as karters around him struck trouble. Coul slotted into position three off the start and pushed hard to chase after the top two. Jay moved up another spot on lap seven going after race leader Adrian Haak. Coul started his racing weekend with a bang coming home in second spot!
The second heat came around and the start was once again going to be very crucial. Coul got another good jump and moved up to fourth spot on the opening lap of the race. The Midfield Group backed entry sat in fourth the first half of the race before being overtaken by former world champion Cody Gillis. In another smooth calculated drive, Coul came home inside the top ten in position five grabbing more good points for his title hunt.
Coul was out of position number three for his third heat and jumped away well and stayed in position three. Jay was under pressure from stable mate James Golding who made the move on him. The Snap on Tools backed entry sat in fourth spot trying to keep the pace of the top three drivers throughout the race. Coul put in another super consistent polished performance, coming home inside the top five in fourth to round out his Saturday.
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Sunday morning heat four was the kick off point for Coul, looking to continue his great start to the championship. Jay got a great start jumping up into second position at the end of the opening lap. The Snap on Tools entry fought on gamely but dropped outside the top five to position six through the middle stages. Coul was able to make his way back up to fourth by the race finish, grabbing more valuable points and having him off position three for the final.
The pre-race presentation began with Coul starting out of position three and staying there on the opening lap. Jay fought hard in the early stages but was shuffled back outside the top five in the pack battle. Coul unfortunately had picked up front end damage in this racing hurting his speed. The Shamick Racing back entry continued to push and got on the back of the lead group in a fast pace race. Coul came home in an excellent seventh position in the final and leaving him inside the top five after the first round of the Championship.
Jay spoke post weekend on how his weekend went. “The practice sessions on Thursday and Friday went well finishing in the top group while also holding the fastest time for the weekend. Qualifying was positive coming sixth. The first heat I finished second, the next three heats we were trying different setups trying to get the kart into the window.
“For the final we made some more setup changes which was definitely in the right direction. I started out of third and had good pace keeping up with the top two. During the race I got front end damage that made me slowly drop down to seventh. We were hoping on a better result in the final but it just didn’t work out. At the end of the weekend we are in a tight fifth in the championship points so that puts us in a good spot for the rest of the year.”
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