It was an absolute nail biter, action packed fifth round of the German Austrian Rotax Max Challenge at the ProKart Raceland circuit at Wackersdorf last weekend, where three of the Intrepid Force Rotax drivers graced the podium Sunday and gained some valuable points for the series. They were amongst the 141 competitors racing in eight categories in the five Rotax engine classes being contested.

In Senior Max, Ferenc Kancsár took 2nd place ahead of his IFR team mate Niki Laa in 3rd, who now leads the championship by 12 points with just two rounds remaining. It was a great battle for positions in both races, where Kancsár set the best time in the 14 lap pre final and together with Laa, took turns to lead the 25 driver line up in the deciding race before thunderstorms hit late in the afternoon…

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On his debut with the Intrepid Force Rotax team last weekend, junior driver Stefan Riener claimed race honours at round 4 of the 2010 German Austrian Rotax Max Challenge at the Ampfing circuit in the Bavaria region of Germany. The 15 year old Austrian has been competing as part of the official Intrepid factory Junior Team line up this season in the KF3 class, but did race internationally in the Rotax category last year.

It was the team’s other Stefan Stefan Locsmandi, who almost secured pole position in junior qualifying, narrowly missing out on the inside row privilege on the start grid for the pre final. He ended up dropping to 5th in the first race then had a disappointing end to his RMC campaign when a technical problem failed to let him contest the final just as the race got underway. His new team mate, Riener, came from row 3 to cross the line not far ahead of Locsmandi in the pre final, setting the fastest overall lap. He moved into the lead early in the final and never looked like losing it throughout the 17 laps. It was a case of bitter sweet for the IFR Stefans, but nevertheless, they were clearly each worthy of a podium finish in the Junior World class…

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Intrepid Force Rotax has come away from the first round of the newly combined German-Austrian Rotax Max Challenge (RMC) at the famous Michael Schumacher ‘Erftlandring’ circuit at Kerpen in Germany with exceptional results in the Senior Max class, where Ferenc Kancsár secured pole position and took the win in Sunday’s final followed closely in 2nd by IFR team mate Maxi Gunkel, who had won the pre-final ahead of Kancsár. There was also the chance of a podium finish in Junior Max for Stefan Locsmandi, but the youngster from Vienna was knocked out of contention at the start of the last lap in the final.

The picturesque 1,017km track hosted the season starter under glorious sunshine and 20°C with 150 entries running in 8 classes. An invitation to compete at the Rotax Grand Finals in Italy next November for the highest scoring Austrian and German drivers makes up the sort-after prize in the Junior and Senior Max plus the Rotax DD2 ‘World’ qualifying categories, while the remaining five ‘Cup’ classes ranging from Micro Max to the DD2 will crown the national champions for 2010. The series consists of seven rounds where drivers must register for five and the four best results count towards the points.

The Salzburg-based team travelled to the west of Germany to compete with a line-up of five drivers at the event and was clearly dominant in seniors from the beginning of free practice Friday morning. It was 15-year old Kancsár who set the pole lap in the Max 0.139 seconds ahead of his local team-mate and 2009 German DMV champ Gunkel.

Junior Intrepid Force Rotax driver Maxi Gunkel has won the 2009 German Max Masters at the Vogelsbergring circuit, Wittgenborn, making it his third title win in just two weekends. In virtually another “whitewash”, the 15-year old claimed pole position Saturday morning while setting a new lap record. Again, he remained too quick for his rivals in the following heats, taking victory in both races and clocking the best lap as well.

In the first heat, Gunkel outdrove his Austrian IFR team mate Corinna Kamper to finish a very comfortable 6 seconds ahead when he took the chequered flag, before repeating his outstanding performance in the next race with a three-second lead over prominent Austrian youngster Julian Wagner. Starting from pole in the final, the IFR team driver got a good start to fight off any chance Wagner might have of catching him, once more claiming the fastest lap of the race, and crossing the line two seconds in front to secure the Masters win at his home track. It was the ideal way to close the season!

The German champ was nothing less than ecstatic after his impressive effort the whole weekend, knowing that the “triple title” end to his junior kart racing career was the perfect exit. “It was a very nice weekend to win everything that I could and also to win for the first time at Wittgenborn. The qualifying turned out to be perfect; the Intrepid chassis and HRS engine was really good, so I was on pole position and set a new lap record.” “I had a good win in the first heat and in the second race I tried to look after my tyres, but still won by a gap. In the final I gave it 100% to become the 2009 Max Master in Juniors. It’s a great result for me! I want to say thanks to my super team for everything - Ernst, Steve and Josh!” Unfortunately, Gunkel recently narrowly missed out on winning the Rotax Max Challenge series for the invitation to compete at the Rotax Grand Finals in Egypt.

IFR’s Corinna Kamper qualified 3rd in Junior Max for a positive beginning to the meeting and drove well to take 2nd place to Gunkel in heat one. However, she had some bad luck in the second race when an incident at the start left her way down the order in the field, left to finish just outside the top 10. Although Kamper made up several positions, she was unable to regain her momentum in the final and had to settle for 8th. In Senior Max, Tobias Weichenberger was beaten to pole by fellow Austrian Simon Wagner, who proved too strong on the day to take the eventual win. Starting on P2, the IFR senior had a great race to hold 3rd in heat one behind the pole-sitter and Denmark’s Rasmus Wendelboe, but heat two ended prematurely after being crashed out in the opening lap. In the final, Weichenberger failed to maintain his pace, finishing 9th overall.