Kiwi karter Daniel Bray ended up 20th in the KZ2 Final at the 2012 CIK-FIA World Cup meeting for KZ1 and KZ2 at Sarno in Italy overnight (NZ time) after being punted out of the lead on the second lap by Dutch driver Max Verstappen.
Works GP Karts team driver Bray qualified fourth and won all four of his heat races then finished second to Verstappen, the son of former F1 driver Jos, in the Pre-Final.
Poleman Verstappen , who drives for the works CRG team, duly led out in the Final but Bray took the lead on the second lap before Verstappen hit him and the pair tangled.
Verstappen, who has aspirations to follow in his father’s footsteps and get to Formula 1, was out on the spot but Bray was able to get back into the race, and work his way back up to 20th place at the flag.
With Verstappen out and Bray back in the pack the race was won by the driver who finished third in the Pre-Final and who was behind the pair at the time, Verstappen’s CRG teammate Jordan Lennox-Lamb from the UK.
After the race Lennox-Lamb told reporters; ‘Frankly I did not expect to win. I was only looking for a podium because Max was really too fast. But he made a mistake when he tried to take the lead on the second lap and from then on I saw that I could control the race.”
Second was Norway’s Emil Antonsen, third his DR-TM teammate, Italian-born German driver Ricardo Negro.
Bray now returns home to contest the final round of this year’s Mi Sedaap Pro Kart series at Rotorua later this month, before heading back to the United States later in the year to contest the final round of this year’s SuperKarts USA Pro Tour in Las Vegas.
