Two young New Zealand karters take on the best in the worlds in international events in Italy and USA this weekend.
Blenheim 14-year-old Arthur Broughan competes in the final round of the FIA Academy Trophy at the San Martino del Lago motorsport facility in Cremona in northern Italy.
Broughan has mounted a superb campaign throughout the FIA Academy programme, coming in 11th overall.
He has some experience at the circuit, competing in the Euro Series of the Champions of the Future, where he had a useful qualifying effort but was swamped with aggressive driving, saying he had never been attacked that heavily in the first lap of any race.
“It was a whole new experience but one I came to the Champions of the Future event to get to prepare for the final round of the FIA Academy Trophy. I feel so lucky to have been able to race at this intensity at the very difficult and technical Cremona circuit.”
It has helped for sure as Arthur was third fastest in opening day practice around the 1.2km circuit.
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Across the Atlantic, Jay Irwin celebrated his 15th birthday this week in preparation for the penultimate round of the SKUSA Pro Shifter competition. The fifth and sixth rounds of the championship part of the SummerNationals at the New Castle Motorsports Park, which is 75kms west of Indianapolis.
Jay, part of the US BirelART team, is currently ninth in overall points in the Shifter class where 2019 world champion Marijn Kremers from Netherlands is in second place, after winning the honours in KZ2 category at the latest round of the Australian Karting Championships recently.
There is practice on Saturday (NZ time) ahead of qualifying and pre-final over nine laps with the finals on Monday (NZT) over 18 laps.
The championship concludes with the SuperNationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 8-12 November.
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