“A strong return to the Euro Max Challenge,” was how RL Racing Department boss Steve Armstrong summed up his team’s performance after Genk.
He had just seen Josh White narrowly pipped to a podium in Junior Max, but remained optimistic. “You can’t win the title at the opening race. What’s more important is to get some good, solid points on the board and build your campaign from there.”
White had been competitive from the outset, posting the 6th-fastest time in qualifying ahead of team-mates Josh Price in 22nd and Gaby Weyer a respectable 38th overall, despite a recent lack of seat-time.
The opening round of the four race series was marred by a series of crashes throughout the heats Gaby fell victim to such incidents, leaving her unable to progress to the finals. Lifting the team’s spirits, Josh Price took a 4th and an 8th but he too was involved in a collision, denying him a possible front-row start in the pre-final.
Josh White’s combined finishes ranked him 13th overall after the heats but a characteristically cool, gritty drive saw him take the chequered flag in 6th place, with his team-mate Price carving his way from 20th to 9th. At the start of the main final, Price was pushed wide at the first corner and onto the marbles. His pace fell off a cliff as he worked to keep in touch with the front-runners and clean his tyres.
For White, a bold tyre gamble – also employed on Price’s kart – paid off and he was able to run with the leaders. At the finish he was denied a podium by mere fractions of a second.
“Josh (Price) was never really able to gather momentum after the start and was left battling in the midfield and eventually came home 19th.” As both lads had started the race a little further back on the grid, we made the decision to use two of the four available new tyres for the first final, to give them a speed advantage against the front-runners who would surely use the original set that had done fifty-plus laps. This worked to good effect and enabled both to earn top ten finishes. We then bolted on remaining two slicks to pair them with the 14-lap old rubber and Josh (White) used that to great effect to drive to a creditable 4th place. Overall, it was a solid if unspectacular platform to build on. We’re all very happy.”This weekend (7/8 April) sees RL Racing Department kickstart its bid to add the Formula Kart Stars Junior Rotax crown to the Mini Max title it won with Josh White won last season at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire.
