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Australia

Britons Keirle, Patterson become 2017 karting world champions

Danny Keirle and Dexter Patterson triumphed in the OK and OK-Junior classes of the CIK-FIA karting world championship on home soil at the PF International track.

Dexter Patterson

Dexter Patterson

Dexter Patterson

Keirle joined Chiesa Corse for the event and dominated the event to take the world championship title.

He first won five of his six heats - with a second-place finish in the last one - thus taking pole position for the final race.

In the 22-lap main race, he took a lights-to-flag win, even though he was never able to pull away from the rest of the field.

His German teammate Esteban Muth spent the race running in a close second, only to be given a 10s time penalty for hitting another kart, and dropping down to 10th.

That promoted Spaniard David Vidales into second. The 15-year-old, who was also second in last year's junior world championship, is looking to graduate to single-seaters in 2018.

Finnish duo Juho Valtanen and Paavo Tonteri took third and fourth respectively, the latter benefitting from a penalty assessed to Oliver Hodgson.

Rasmus Lindh gained six places to finish fifth, ahead of Brazilian Gianluca de Castro Petecof and Hannes Janker, who started from 15th.

OK class top 10

Pos. Driver Team Gap
1  Danny Keirle Chiesa Corse  
2  David Vidales Tony Kart 0.674
3  Juho Valtenen Kohtala Sports 1.197 
4  Paavo Tonteri KSM Schumacher 5.486 
5  Rasmus Lindh Fusion Motorsport 5.792 
6  Gianluca de Castro Petecof Tony Kart 7.119 
7  Hannes Janker CRG 7.417 
8  Axel Charpentier Ricky Flynn Motorsport 7.634 
9  Louie Westover CRG 8.908 
10  Esteban Muth Chiesa Corse 10.218 

The OK-Junior class was also the domain of British racers, as the whole podium was locked out by local drivers.

While newly-signed Red Bull juniors Harry Thompson and Jonny Edgar were the strongest representatives of Great Britain in the class during the regular karting season, it was Forza Racing duo Patterson and Christopher Lulham dominating in the world championship event.

Thompson started from pole but he gave up his position to Patterson at the start.

Barbadian Zane Maloney then put immense pressure on Patterson in the first five laps before dropping down the order.

Then Lulham took over in second, and he would likewise put pressure on the leader for the remainder of the race.

The duo, both driving for Forza Racing, pulled away from the rest to take first and second by nearly four seconds.

Thompson completed the podium, as he had a similarly big gap behind him.

Shihab Al Habsi from Oman was fourth from 15th on the grid, ahead of American Tyler Gonzales.

But a post-race penalty to Gonzales promoted Maloney, who recovered from his early woes, to fifth, ahead of Red Bull junior Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto, the highest-placed driver not racing for a British team.

OKJ class top 10

Pos. Driver Team Gap
1  Dexter Patterson Forza Racing  
2  Christopher Lulham Forza Racing 0.106
3  Harry Thompson Ricky Flynn Motorsport 3.738 
4  Shihab Al Habsi Msport Karting 7.829 
5  Zane Maloney Ricky Flynn Motorsport 8.766 
6  Jack Doohan Ricky Flynn Motorsport 9.931 
7  Gabriel Bortoleto CRG 10.403 
8  Luca Bosco Baby Race 10.644 
9  Victor Bernier Cedric Sports 10.919 
10  Andrea Rosso Tony Kart 11.142 

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Edition

Australia