Birel star leaves rivals in a Viennese whirl in Austria
Ed Brand became the third driver in as many races to stand on the top step of the Euro Max Challenge podium after winning last weekend’s (17/18 July) latest round at the appropriately named Speedworld circuit at Bruck, near Vienna.
Racing with the Hungarian Kalman Motorsport team, Ed began his weekend brightly by recording the 3rd-fastest lap (out of 72 competitors) during timed qualifying. From there, he won two of his three preliminary heats and was 2nd in the other – giving him pole position for the first of Sunday’s two finals.
In a tense race, the Freem UK-backed driver was able to maintain the upper hand over Holland’s Joey Van Splunteren, beating him to the chequered flag by barely two tenths of a second.
In the main final, he again led the field away from P1 on the grid, and having shaken off the early attentions of Van Splunteren, was able to pull away and seal a historic double – crossing the finishing line with daylight between him and his pursuers.
“I’m delighted to win in my first year in the senior category,” Ed said. “The level of opposition is very high and the racing incredibly hard, especially in the hot conditions (it was 40 degrees in the shade).
It is also testimony to the hard work of my team that they could give me a kart capable of winning after my crash on Thursday. During testing something went wrong and the kart went straight over the gravel trap and smashed into the safety barrier. I went in so hard I actually broke the barrier. I also scratched the paintwork on my new Arai crash helmet, so I was a bit miffed.”
With just one round remaining, Ed is hoping to be able to finish inside the top three of the championship and thus qualify for November’s World Finals, held this year at Muro Leccese in Puglia, Southern Italy.
In the interim, with barely any time to savour his Austrian success, he will now travel up to Lanarkshire to prepare for this weekend’s (24/25 July) fifth round of the British Super 1 championship. The following week he will contest the annual Kart Masters event, often referred to as the ‘British Grand Prix of Karting’ (30 July/1 August).
