Daniel Quimby returned to the Newcastle Kart Club over the weekend for the 5th and final round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship. Quimby showed excellent pace 3 weeks ago at the Newcastle City Cup in preparation for the championship decider.
Daniel, once again racing under the Topgun Racing team was looking for strong results and was 2nd fastest heading into qualifying on Friday. Quimby hit the track on Friday afternoon against 41 other competitors in what was going to be one of the toughest sessions of the year.
The Shell Rimula sponsored entry was out in the top 50% of drivers and quickly made his way into the top 20. Daniel was pushing hard and was on the edge of the top 15 in a session that was so close with elite talent. Quimby stopped the clock in position 16 overall and now knew he had work ahead of him to try and move forward through the heats.
Position 8 was the starting point in heat 1 due to the split fields. The MIR Raceline Australia supported entry had a breath taking opening 3 laps, moving up 3 positions and into the top 5 drivers. Daniel was showing insane pace and made further moves as the race went on and was chasing after the race leaders. Quimby crossed the line in a brilliant 3rd position but an unfortunate drop down penalty had him down in 5th position overall.
Daniel was looking for a clean start once again but this time he dropped down spots to the edge of the top 10. The Galvaniize Insurance backed entry dug deep and had made up a couple of spots by mid race. Quimby continued to push and was closing in on the top 5 drivers as the race went on. Daniel was able to cross the line in position 7 but was on the right side of drop down penalties moving up to 5th position in classified order.
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Quimby was looking to finish Saturday on a high but was unfortunately out of the race on the 2nd lap. This hurt his starting position for the 4th and final heat but Daniel was able to settle in 10th position at the end of the opening lap. The SP Tools backed driver was driving the wheels of his entry and starting to move his way forward across the field. Quimby set the fastest lap of the race on his charge through the field and he was able to cross the line in 6th position.
Position 14 was the starting spot for Daniel in the all important final and the young driver was looking to continue his charge forward. The Liftronic sponsored entry settled into position 15 in the early laps but got the elbows out and was into the top 10 by lap 8 in the race. Quimby was driving the wheels off his kart and was continuing to make positions in the top 10. Daniel crossed the line a brilliant 7th position in a storming drive in the final race of the championship.
Daniel’s father Ian spoke post weekend on the pace his young driver had. “We had a good start to the weekend finishing the official practice 2nd quickest. Qualifying didn’t go to plan with an engine issue which put us back to 16th after qualifying.
“Daniel was strong all weekend driving himself back to the pointy end. He had a strong drive in the final starting P14 and finishing in P7 even after a few setbacks coming through the field. I felt with our pace we were good enough for a podium but it wasn’t meant to be. On to the next one”.
Quimby will be a driver to watch in the Karting Australia ranks in 2022 and beyond.
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