Harry Webb and Charlie Eastwood won the Junior and Senior Max Grand Final title at Portimao in Portugal last weekend (1 December), maintaining the teams extraordinary record of success in the competition.
Strawberry Racing drivers have now won four Rotax Grand Finals titles, adding to their tally of four Euro Max Challenge victories.
In the Junior category, reigning Euro Max champion Harry Webb narrowly avoided missing the cut-off point for timed qualifying - taking to the track after a last-minute engine change, with seconds to spare. Unfazed he posted the 2nd fastest time overall, with team-mates Guan Yu Zhou 28th and Jessica Backman 43rd out of a total of 72 entrants.
With each competitors given three qualifying heats to race in, finishing in each of them and as high up the order as possible would prove crucial. Once these preliminary races had been completed, Guan Yu was ranked 8th and Harry 9th. Jessica in 51st would have to compete in the Second Chance heat, if she was going to make the pre-final grid. She did, after a strong drive to 6th saw her qualify for Saturdays big races.
With so much at stake, some of the driving standards left a lot to be desired, as Harry attested. He crossed the pre-finals finishing line down in 22nd, behind Guan Yu in 7th but ahead of Jessica in 28th.
Despite his poor fortune, Harrys confidence was buoyed by the fact that he had been the fastest driver on the track and he knew that so long as his pace maintained itself in the Grand Final, he could pass and move his way to the front.
This he did with aplomb, and with seven laps remaining Harry was already leading. He went on to win by nearly four seconds, whilst Guan Yu finished a creditable 8th with Jessicathe Swedish championin 25th.
Strawberrys delighted team bosses, Warwick Ringham and Paul Spencer, said: After the pre -final we were a little disappointed with Jessica and Harrys results. They had both been caught up in first corner incidents that had put them down the field. We knew we had the speed with all our drivers, but Harry had been so much faster than everyone else in the pre-final that we believed he had a chance, even from that far back on the grid.He added: To say we were amazed by his drive in the Grand Final would be an understatement! To finish the year like he has; as European Champion, World Champion and to take 2nd in his first ever senior race at the International Open at Zuera, is amazing. Guan Yu did really well to take 8th place. For a 13-year old racing against the likes of Harry and a host of really good drivers in their last year as Juniors was a great result. Jessica again got caught up in a few incidents and should really have finished better but she has learned a great deal again and will use the experience to her advantage.
Charlie Eastwood and Harrison Scott represented the team in the quality-packed Senior class and delivered solid performances; from qualifying through to the last heat. Charlie started the pre-final from P3 on the grid with Harrison directly alongside him, making it an all Strawberry row two.
When they crossed the finishing line, Harrison was in 2nd position with Charlie 3rd but the officials deemed Scott to have left the tramlines too soon at the start and was subsequently given a three-second penalty, dropping him to 6th spot in the results.
The Grand Final, as could be expected, turned into a huge scrap for supremacy, as Charlie explains: It was a hard race. The tail wind pushed the ones behind me and helped them to run faster, so I had to overtake and re-overtake several times. I needed to keep in first position and stay fast to the end. I was given a small advantage when the guys behind me had a bit of an incident between them but that was enough to seal the victory.
Harrison was the victim of a first corner incident which left him a long way down from the leaders and subsequently spent the entire race chasing down the front-running pack. At the start of the last lap he had finally caught them but it was too late to mount a challenge for the podium. The race had required Eastwood to produce a special performance in order to snatch his first international title, leaving Spencer and Ringham happy and impressed: Charlie had a plan and stuck to it once he hit the front, explains Warwick. He kept his head down and drove a perfect race. Harry's win was fantastic because he came from so far back on the grid, but Charlie's win was every bit as satisfying because he had to contend with seven of the fastest Rotax drivers in the world who were all trying to take victory from him. Once hed hit the front, the pressure to not make a mistake and cover all the moves from the drivers behind must have been huge. Team Ireland did us proud!
Andreas Backman's last-minute entry for the DD2 race was both a surprise to him - and the team. Having never raced in the class before it was a big challenge, but his speed in testing put him amongst the ten fastest runners. A conservative effort during timed qualifying put Andreas down the grid for his heats. However, three strong finishes meant that he qualified automatically for the pre-final. Having achieved this, he appeared to relax and this inspired excellent performances in the two finals. His eventual 14th place finish in the Grand Final left Paul Spencer with a big smile on his face: Andreas' week was really hard, so what he achieved was fantastic for both him and Strawberry Racing. We had no expectation at all to begin with, so to come away with a top fifteen result in the Grand Finals, in an unfamiliar kart, was a great result and completed a great days racing.
Reflecting on the event and the season as a whole, Paul said: Warwick and I would like to thank all the drivers and their families for making this a really special week. To Tomas Backman for pushing us that bit further. Without him, we would not have tested beforehand and I think this was instrumental in the team achieving such fantastic results - so a big thank you to him for that. Also, wed like to acknowledge Team Ireland for the best craic and for throwing what was - without doubt - the worlds best party on Saturday night! To Steve Webb, John Harrison and their families for sticking by us through thick and thin and for providing some of the years most magical moments. Finally, we are grateful to the Zhou family for being 100% behind the whole team and giving us Guan Yu, who is not only a fantastic little pilot but is now our team mascot!
