Nelson Piquet Jr will race for the first time since splitting with the Renault Formula 1 team when he takes part in an all-star karting event next weekend. The 24-year-old Brazilian will compete in the Superkarts USA Super Nationals event in Las Vegas, racing in the 125cc gearbox kart class for Intrepid Kart Technology.

"I’m really excited about this race and am so happy that Intrepid invited me to drive for the team," said Piquet. "It came about after they supplied karts for the Monaco Kart Cup and after that I went to visit them at the factory in Italy, where they have a very impressive set-up. "Karting is one of my favourite types of racing and I’m so looking forward to driving one of the fastest karts around in this race." Among Piquet’s rivals at the event will be seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and Toro Rosso F1 driver Sebastien Buemi.

By AutoSport

The fourth and final round of the international Rotax championship that’s regarded by many as the most competitive series in its class worldwide, proved to be a competition to be reckoned with for the Intrepid Force Rotax drivers who travelled to the French Sologne Karting circuit.

In Seniors, Josh Hart made it into the history books as the only driver to take three consecutive pole positions in the Max class in one season and naturally was in a prime position to secure another podium. The IFR driver also had the chance to grace the championship podium as he did in 2008, with the title still undecided going into Sunday’s finals. However, it all began to unravel when an outside front row start resulted in Hart being overcautious in the early stages of the pre-final, claiming he was waiting for the crash that never actually happened. Delaying his move into the leading pack then missing the braking point on turn 2, the 23-year old found himself in the gravel with several others, before retiring into the pits to save his new tyres for the last race…

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The New Zealand production line of top karters continues with the news Josh Hart has been snapped up by the Intrepid Force Rotax Team to become the latest professional Kiwi racing driver in Europe. He joins an ever-increasing list of young New Zealanders making their mark on tracks throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. Hart has joined the Rotax team as a fully paid-up member and will contest the four-round Rotax Euro Challenge series.

He begins his sojourn this weekend at Zeura, Spain, where he hopes to return the faith his new team has in him, by gaining at least a podium finish. The Intrepid Team has been doing a lot of pre-season testing, running new model chassis and 2009 engines. However, it wasn’t until late this week that Hart himself got to test the ‘09 engines.

"Compared to the best times that were posted on Wednesday, I’m about two-tenths of a second off the fastest times of the guys out there yesterday," said Hart. "Although the times are all unofficial, I’m confident going into qualifying for the race." Hart believes he’s well prepared for his first professional assault on the Rotax circuit in Europe after already completing several successful test sessions. He’ll need his wits about him though, as he’s up against 90 other drivers from 36 countries in the series.

Hart’s big break came at the 2007 grand final at Al Ain, near Dubai, where his pace and race craft impressed Austrian kart shop owner Freddi Hochhauser enough for him to offer Hart a job and a drive in the Austrian Challenge. He was soon putting some of Europe’s best kart drivers to the sword and a third in last year’s European challenge sealed his current deal.

Previously, the two-time New Zealand Sprint Kart champion and two-time winner of New Zealand’s Rotax Max Challenge series was a round-winner in the Austrian and Czech Republic Rotax Challenges and finished third overall in the 2008 European Challenge. "It’s great to see another Kiwi making it in karting after the successes of Wade and Mitch Cunningham," said Ross MacKay, motorsport journalist and karting enthusiast. "Before Wade in 2003, we had no one since the 1980s when Mike Thackwell rose through the ranks and got into Formula One."

As part of his deal, Hart will live and work in Salzburg and focus solely on the four-round Rotax Euro Challenge series. "He had a little bit of time with the same team last year and they’re very professional," said Josh’s father Raymond. "They have quite a structured set up and the way they do everything is just like a mini Formula One thing I suppose."

Raymond Hart has a track record of spotting and helping talented young drivers. Over the years he’s been involved with the likes of Earl Bamber, Fabian Coulthard, Matt Halliday and Brendon Hartley.

* Rnd 1 March 25-29 Zuera, Spain
* Rnd 2 May 27-31 Kartplanet Busca, Italy
* Rnd 3 July 22-26 Sosnova, Czech Republic
* Rnd 4 September 9-13 Salbris, France

By NZHerald

Toro Rosso’s Formula 1 rookie Jaime Alguersuari will confirm his status over the weekend of September 5–6 as perhaps the busiest man in motor racing, when he adds yet another championship challenge to a list that already contains World Series by Renault as well as F1.

Jaime is taking on the Karting World Championship in Sarno, Italy, though the Spanish F1 star hasn’t raced a kart in anger since 2005. But in a bid to get as much track time as possible to up his F1 game, Jaime has accepted an invitation from the Intrepid factory team to race in the KZ1 series for the world title. At the team, he’ll hook up with current European kart champion Bas Lammers (son of former F1 star Jan) to take on the best in the world. Upwards of 80 drivers will contest the opening rounds at the Sarno track, near Naples, with just 34 making it through to the grand final on Sunday.

“Being an F1 driver ay my age is a privilege that requires me to become better every single day,” said Alguersuari of the kart challenge. “So I try to fight with the best drivers in the world outside of F1… On the Sarno track, there will be the best drivers in the world, the whole of the karting industry and the world’s most powerful karts. It is also an honor to be one of the younger drivers of this world karting championship 2009 and be able to fight against them.”

The decision to take up the invitation from Intrepid hasn’t caused the young F1 star any problems with his team, either.

“With Franz [Tost, Toro Rosso team principal], we understood each other perfectly from the first moment we met, the same with Giorgio Ascanelli [team technical manager]. Both are very demanding, but they agree with me that, based on my age, I should continue a process of training at a top level, which I would also have developed if I hadn’t entered into F1 so early.”

And with the boss giving his consent, Alguersuari is looking forward to the fight in Italy.

“In Sarno, my first challenge will be to make the cut and qualify among the 34 top drivers for the final – if I succeed, I will have achieved 50 per cent of my goals,” he said. And the other half?

“Frankly, finishing among the top 10 in the world would be good enough!”

Once the weekend is over, there’s no rest, though. The following weekend, it’s back to F1 action at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, and thereafter, the final two rounds of the World Series by Renault championship, in which, after victory in Portimão last month, Alguersuari now lies third. The rookie insists that he’s not spreading himself too thin, though.

“No one demands more of me than myself,” he says. “I know who I am: a rookie in F1 at 19 years old. My chance will come sooner or later, but it will depend on the circumstances. I can’t decide the circumstances, but I can decide about my training, so I’m going to run in the world KZ1 championship – and the World Series by Renault, with the aim of winning that in my debut season.”

By RedBull and F1SA

Intrepid Force Rotax Senior Max driver Josh Hart got off to a flyer on the weekend at round 3 of the Rotax Euro Challenge in the Czech Republic, when the New Zealander claimed his second pole position for the series in official timed practice Friday. Hart had taken pole and finished 2nd at the previous round in Italy. The 1075m ‘Global Assistance Racing Arena Autodrom Ceská Lípa’ did however prove not to be the easiest to master for some of the Austrian team’s younger drivers, although there were some highlights come Sunday.

Continuing his good form, Hart won two of the qualifying heats and had one 3rd place in the wet, which gave him pole position for the pre-final Sunday. The 22-year old also set the fastest lap of the six Senior Max heats contested. He was leading the first final until lap 7, when round 2 winner Joseph Reilly made a desperate move up the inside of the IFR driver into the first chicane, which resulted in contact that dropped Hart to 6th, but he managed to take 5th by the end. Still confident that he could win the final, Hart saw the chance on turn 1 to take a shot at the race lead, but was spun around when it didn’t come off and rejoined the field from the back. Once again setting the best lap of the race overall, Hart recovered well to come through to finish 10th. He now sits in 3rd place in the championship going into the last round at Salbris, France mid-September.

Returning to the Euro Challenge, but as a senior for this one round, vice Austrian champ Niki Laa was looking forward to the experience of mixing it with some of the World’s best Max drivers at the event. He did well to rank 12th in the 67-kart field in qualifying and apart from one unlucky heat, had two top 10 results to be on row 13 for the pre-final. Laa was unable to advance on his start position amidst the tough competition back down the order, but made up for it in the final that afternoon. Clocking the 3rd best time behind his team-mate Josh Hart and the series leader Jason Varley (GB), the 16-year old drove a great race to take 11th across the line. It was an excellent result and ideal preparation for the upcoming Austrian Championship this month.

In the absence of IFR’s Rotax DD2 European vice champion Dominik Kraihamer, Maxi Fleischmann returned to race with the team for the second time at the Euro Challenge in the 2-speed gearbox class. The German driver was 10th in his group in qualifying, which gave him 19th in the combined times. The constantly changing weather conditions saw Fleischmann racing in the wet as well Saturday, where he finished around the first 10 in each of his three heats to rank P25 for the pre-final. The DD2 class was extremely close, with little separating the drivers, but the 15-year old still made up 11 places to start on row 7 for the final. Making some good decisions during the racing together with a bit of luck, he took the chequered flag in a brilliant 6th position.

There were two IFR junior drivers left in the running Sunday afternoon, following Corinna Kamper’s exit from the second chance race earlier in the day, when she started on pole then retired from the race prematurely on lap 1. Maxi Gunkel had a positive start, qualifying 12th, though hoping to have been faster. He was 14th on the grid for the pre-final with his best heat race result 6th, but still around 0.5 seconds off the pace. Unfortunately, the finals were not encouraging due to several racing incidents that shuffled him down the order. Struggling to find any joy, the German driver finished on P21.

A new Junior Max member in the Euro team with IFR at round 3 was Mark Ferencz, who drove the Intrepid Kart for the first time at his international debut and was immediately quick in testing the weekend before when the Ceská Lípa circuit was hit with massive amounts of rain. Timed practice in the dry was not pleasing for Ferencz, with a best lap that gave him 35th on the time sheet, one place ahead of team-mate Kamper. The racing Saturday began to show a turnaround, as the Hungarian improved to take two top 10 results, therefore starting on row 12 for the pre-final. Ferencz made up a few places over the course of the 12-lapper, although the most impressive drive was when he came from grid 19 in the final to finish 7th at his first ever ‘Euro’. He was ecstatic!

Intrepid Force Rotax has continued to work with the majority of their Euro drivers this year with the view of developing them for international competition, so the results achieved by some of the less experienced members was definitely something to be proud of. Naturally, it was disappointing to see senior driver Josh Hart miss out on making the podium, but as we know, there’s still one round remaining in the championship. Sologne Karting at Salbris, France is the nominated venue for the series decider (September 9-13).