Mini X30: Freddie Slater completes clean sweep at Winter Cup
The Iame Winter Cup kick started the international karting calendar, where some of the continents top drivers descended on Valencia to do battle. The Mini X30 class was first to hit the track with a strong 34 driver field.
It was clear from the start that the driver to beat would be Freddie Slater. The young Brit managed to put his Fusion Motorsport kart on pole position by a tenth from BRT’s Alberto Hurtado Gonzalex and Driver Racing Kart’s Giovanni Trentin. Slater’s team mate Leo Robinson was an impressive 11th on his European debut with Vinnie Phillips was down in 18th having shown decent pace in practice.
3 heats then waited for the drivers on Saturday. Leo Robinson took the first win by just 0.467s from Gonzalez. Lucas Fluxa managed to haul his Praga kart into 3rd while Slater dropped to 4th. Oleksandr Bondarev rounded out the top 5. Heat 2 went the way of Slater. Just! He took the win by just 0.058s on the line from Gonzalez and Trentin who all held position. Bondarev moved up to 4th while Juan Cota had a solid run to 5th. Robinson finished heat 2 in 8th. The final heat was a more comfortable win for Slater, this time chased hime by Trentin and Robinson, who moved up 8 places. Another driver on a charge was Tiziano Monza, who moved up 9 places to finish 4th. Gonzalez dropped 3 places to cross the line 5th.
The points meant that Slater would start the pre-final on pole, with Gonzalez alongside for company. Slater’s team mate Robinson would start behind him in 3rd with Trentin off 4th. Bondarev and Cota would hold row 3. Vinnie Phillips would have a tough run in the heats, starting 12th. Sunday’s pre-final would be a lights to flag victory for Slater, chased home by Robinson. Monza gained 7 places to finish 3rd while Cota moved up to 4th. Gonzalez dropped 3 to finish 5th, with Bondarev in 6th. One driver on a charge was Denis Curavale, who gained a staggering 16 places to finish 9th. On the other hand Trentin ended up off the track with 5 to go, and would start the final off the back.
As the final started it looked like Robinson had got the jump on Slater, but Slater held the lead through turn 1. Trentin’s day would go from bad to worse, as contact on the first lap left him well behind the rest of the field. Slater and Robinson were quick to break away from the chasing pack, headed by Monza and Cota. Cota was able to get passed his fellow KartRepublic driver, and was looking to make inroads on the leading pair.
The plan seemed to work as by half distance, the chasing trio had gotten right onto the bumper of Robinson. Cota quickly got passed Robinson and the now 6 drivers set course for Slater. The six soon became 3 as Cota, Robinson and Monza worked together to reel Slater in. With 3 to go it was now 4 karts for the lead. What followed next was a proper battle. Robinson got passed Cota, then tried to get a move done at Turn 1 to take the lead, but he thought better of it. As the final lap started, Monza passed Cota while Slater defended hard from Robinson. Monza closed quickly on Robinson, making the move at the final chicane.
They couldn’t catch Slater who took the Winter Cup in Mini X30. Tiziano Monza was 2nd after his stunning last lap move, which dumped Leo Robinson into 3rd. Juan Cota made it 4 kart republic chassis in the top 4 while Adrian Benito rounded out the top 6. Further down the field, Vinnie Phillips recovered to 10th and Callie Clifford put her DHR kart into 18th on her European debut.
Image: Fusion Motorsport
