It’s a case of third time lucky for Ryan Grant as the multi-time Kiwi kart champ has finally been able to confirm a full European campaign for 2014.
After being the dominant force on the local gearbox karting scene for over 10 years now the 29-year-old Aucklander has been linked to a drive with top Italian team Maranello for the past three years. But for the past two there has been a last minute hitch.
In 2012 Grant was laid low by a burst appendix, while this year (2013) he has undergone four separate operations to repair the jaw he broke (undiagnosed at the time) ten years ago.
In 2014, however, Grant will join the works Maranello team at several key meetings in Italy starting with the opening round of the 2014 WSK Masters series at Sarno and Trofeo Andrea Margutti meeting at Lonato in March.
He will then return home for four-and-a-half months before returning to Italy in September for an extended stay which will see him contest a further two rounds of the WSK Masters Series, the CIK-FIA KZ2 World Cup meeting at Sarno in October and the season-ending Trofeo delle Industrie meeting at Lonato in November.
There will be a lot of interest in Grant when he gets to Italy, much of it based on his amazing track record at home.
In the past six years alone the former New Zealand Junior star has won the New Zealand KZ2 class title three times, the premier senior CIK Trophy of New Zealand title six times and the KZ2 class in the multi-round Formula S KartSport club’s Pro Series four times.
He also showed impressive pace in a one-off toe-in-the-water trip to the Trofeo delle Industrie meeting at the end of 2012 when he qualified 18th and has got as high as ninth in the Final when his kart’s engine failed.
With long-time local protagonist Daniel Bray also expected to return to Europe to contest key KZ2 races there is now the very real chance that there will be two Kiwis on the grid at the KZ2 World Cup meeting at Sarno in October.
