Strawberry Racing’s Luke Varley underlined his huge talent by dominating the Rotax Grand Finals at the Ghibli Raceway, near Sharm El-Sheikh (Saturday 12 December). Having secured pole for the pre-final, Luke went on to dominate it – winning by over five seconds.

He was made to work hard for victory in the Grand Final after dropping a couple of places during the opening lap. However, as the lead pair began to tussle, Luke seized his chance and, with an incisive move, regained the upper hand. From there he was able to open a gap and maintain it to the chequered flag. Strawberry team principal Warwick Ringham was understandably delighted, “Luke drove fantastically well. Because everyone’s on the same equipment, it all comes down to driver ability and who’s got the best set-up and ultimately, who wants it the most.”

He added, “This year he’s won Kart Masters, finished second in the British Super 1 championship, won the European and now the World title – Luke’s just really good, isn’t he?!” Indeed, such has been the impression that Luke made in Egypt and with his performances throughout the season that he has been invited to compete in the Florida Winter Tour - and there is a possibility that he could land a drive with Paul Spencer’s Tony Kart Junior Racing Team in 2010. The team’s other drivers experienced varying fortunes. Formula Renault graduate, Joseph Reilly returned to complete his karting career, but after a series of misfortunes found himself in the repercharge and was unlucky not to qualify for the main final after a questionable black-flag.

The team’s sole Junior representative Henry Hunter was making his World finals debut, and acquitted himself admirably. Facing a steep learning curve, he came through the heats and pre-final to qualify well for arguably, the biggest race of his career to date. An intelligent drive saw him thread his way to an eventual 8th place at the finish. Warwick said, “Henry did really well. This was a new experience for him but the more laps he did, the better he got. In fact, what he achieved was fantastic.”

After winning the British Open and Super 1 titles and finishing a close second in the European championship, Ed Brand added third place in last Saturday’s World final (12 December) to his impressive haul of trophies in 2009 at the Ghibli Raceway, at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. All season long, the HRS Motorsport driver has been a front-runner and at the desert circuit located near the shores of the Red Sea, it was no different.

Having started the event with the third fastest lap in timed qualifying (out of 72 drivers), Ed then won each of his three heats to earn pole position for the pre-final. A canny second place finish in that race gave him the preferred outside line for the Grand Final itself. “Unusually, the outside row of the grid gave you a better entry line into the first corner, provided that you got a decent start, which I managed to do.” Ed led the thirty-four strong field across the start/finish line at the end of the first lap, and from there held the advantage for the next eighteen. However, the impressive Ukyo Sasahara from Japan had kept a close watching brief on the Englishman, waiting for a mistake.

Just two laps from the chequered flag, Brand pushed too hard into a corner and the Japanese dived down his inside, edged him onto the marbles, also allowing fellow Brit Matt Parry through. “I’m disappointed not to have won,” Ed reflected back home in Hertfordshire. “But if I’d started at the back and driven through the pack to finish third, I’d be delighted. So on reflection, third place is a good result.”

Ed’s father Mark was equally philosophical, “The Japanese lad drove remarkably well. Ed made a slight mistake and Ukyo went for it. That’s racing, that’s life,” he shrugged. HRS boss Tristram Oman agreed, saying “We got a top three and that’s no disgrace at all.” With the paddock thronged with journalists and TV crews, Ed’s performances throughout the week-long event turned him into something of a celebrity – “Everywhere I went there was a camera shoved in my face” – and led to offers from race organisers to demonstrate his talents in selected international events.

Ed has to rely on sponsorship to keep him racing and he acknowledges the support he receives from his family’s firm of plumbers merchants and their suppliers, he says “I would like to thank Brands of Watford, radiator company, Vogel and Noot and Contact Electrical (Watford). Without their help, I would not be able to achieve anywhere near the sort of success I have enjoyed this year.” He added, “I would also to say a big, big ‘thankyou’ to Tristram and Nigel (Horner) of HRS for their incredible hard work, help and support throughout the season. They’re a great team, have designed a monster kart in the CRG Dark Knight, and played a massive part in my most successful season yet.”

Arnaud Kozlinski was awarded his first CIK-FIA World Karting Championship winner’s trophy at the FIA Gala in Monaco this evening. This marked a positive step up for the 28-year-old who had won second place in the 2003 and 2004 Championships. The 46th edition of the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship, which is run over a single event, took place for the first time ever in Asia, at the Macau Motorsports Club. There were 43 entries and among them, for the first time in the history of the CIK-FIA Karting Championship, there were two Chinese drivers at the start of the event.

Kozlinski, driving a CRG Kart with Maxter engine and Bridgestone tyres, started in pole position, comfortably winning the pre-final before starting again in pole position for the afternoon final. Although the championship was halted five laps early due to heavy rain, this did nothing to detract from the exciting on-track action. Being the first Frenchman ever to win a world championship in the sport’s highest category, Kozlinski was ecstatic to have been crowned at the FIA Gala.

Kozlinski said: "Winning the World Championship in Macau was a huge relief. In 2008, I was really disappointed when my engine let go, as it did a month earlier when I was on my way to being European Champion. These two failures were very difficult for me to get over. Fortunately, I was well surrounded by friends and family and it gave me the desire to come back even stronger. That’s why I dedicate this victory to all those who supported me, especially my parents."

Giancarlo Tinini, President of winning constructor CRG, said: "The 20 minutes of the Karting World Championship finale are always the most intense of the year, never failing to bring on a huge adrenaline rush. No other race could be compared to the World Championship, and for a constructor, securing a win is obviously very exciting. Winning changes everything from one day to the next: the company’s image is strengthened overnight and the publicity generated is incredible, benefiting our entire network."

By MotorSport