Bray Stars At Kz2 Super Cup Meeting In France

KARTSPORT NEW ZEALAND
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*  2013 CIK-FIA KZ2 International Super Cup meeting
Varennes sur Ailler
France
Sept 20-22
2013

24-09-13

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Bray Stars At Kz2 Super Cup Meeting In France

Kiwi karter Daniel Bray has starred at this year's CIK-FIA International KZ2 Super Cup meeting in France over the weekend, starting from pole and leading the Final for 16 of the 20 laps before being shuffled back to fourth then elevated to third by officials after Italian Loris Spinelli who crossed the finish line in second place was docked 10 seconds for the contact which led to Bray losing the lead.

That drama aside it was the best showing internationally for 26-year-old Aucklander Bray since he won the SuperKarts USA S1 class title in 2011, and confirms the potential he has shown since his first big meeting in Europe, the KZ2 World Cup at Sarno in Italy last year, where he qualified fourth, won four of his five heat races, and finished second in the Pre-Final only to be punted off the track while leading the Final.

This time the works GP/TM/Bridgestone driver set the second quickest lap time in his second free practice session on Thursday before finishing second in his qualifying group (fifth fastest overall) in qualifying practice on Friday morning then claiming his first heat race win of the event in the afternoon.

He followed that up by being quickest in the warm-up on Saturday morning, finishing second to eventual Final winner Dorian Boccolacci (Energy/TM/Bridgestone) in the first of the day's heats then winning the second, finishing second in the third and fourth in the fourth to end the day second in the class pecking order behind German driver Riccardo Negro (DR/TM/Bridgestone).

It was Bray, however, who was again quickest in the warm-up on Sunday morning before going on to win his Pre-Final and start the Final from pole with Boccolacci alongside and Negro back on the third row.

Bray then proceeded to lead the Final for the first 16 laps before contact from Spinelli (CRG/TM/Bridgestone) saw him lose several places. There was also drama behind him at this point after more contact took Croatian Kristijan Habulin (CRG/Modena/Bridgestone) and Czech Jan Midria (Birel/TM/Bridgestone) out of the picture.

The result was that Boccolacci inherited Bray's lead and held it to the line from Spinelli, Frenchman Alexandre Arrue (Praga/Parilla/Bridgestone) and Bray, but Bray - who also set the fastest race lap - was then elevated to third place after Spinelli was penalised 10 seconds by the officials.

The results are now subject to an appeal by Spinelli's team, however, and will not be confirmed finally until sometime next month.

Also contested at the meeting was the inaugural CIK-FIA World KZ Championship with that title going to Max Verstappen, son of former F1 driver Jos.

ENDS

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