Rotax Winter Cup: Pylka back on top in Juniors
Over 50 drivers took to the track in Junior Rotax to contest the Junior Rotax Winter Cup in Campillos. Most of the top protagonists have moved onto Seniors or other things for 2020, so there may be some new names at the top of the time sheets.
In qualifying, it was the familiar name of Oli Pylka that reached the top of the time sheets. His 1:04.414 was just enough to best Eliska Babickova by 0.082 seconds. Daniel Guinchard had to settle for third ahead of a whole host of rookies. They were lead by Aaron Walker and Sam Gornall, both top names from the British championship. The Netherlands’ Tim Gerhards topped the 2nd qualifying session with a time good enough for 6th.
Pylka was once again on top after the heats were complete. His pair of wins and 2nd was enough to secure him the top spot over Eliska Babickova, who matched his results. Daniel Guinchard also won a single heat, but 2nd and 6th was enough to give him the edge over Aaron Walker, whose best result of 3rd would see him on the 2nd row with his countryman. Tomass Stolcermanis was the top driver to not win a heat in 5th. He would have Marcus Luzio alongside him, as the top driver to finish outside the top 3 in all the heats. Sam Gornall dropped out of the top 10 in his 2nd heat, meaning he would line up for final 1 in 10th, white Tim Gerhards just scrapped into the top 15 in his first heat, leaving him 15th for the final.
The DHR man held the early lead as the field behind tripped over each other on the grass. Babickova and Walker held 2nd and 3rd dumping Guinchard down to 4th. Babickova and Walker quickly set about fighting over 2nd, with Walker chucking his Strawberry racing machine at the back of Babickova’s Tonykart. Them pushing, allowed them to keep on terms with Pylka, managing to get passed with just under 10 minutes to go. It looked as though Pylka made a mistake, as he was swamped by the chasing pack, dumping him down to 5th and Walker into the lead.
Chaisng down Walker was Guinchard with Pylka making the recover back to 3rd with Babickova and Luzio dropping back in 4th and 5th. Pylka didn’t need much of an invitation to take 2nd off Guinchard, but the KR sport man wouldn’t let him out of his sights. But the pair had half a second to make up to get back on terms with leader Walker. It didn’t take long, as with 2 minutes to go Pylka took the lead with Walker doing everything in his power to keep Babickova behind for 2nd. The trio of Walker, Babickova and Guinchard swapped places over the final lap. They couldn’t keep up with Pylka who took the win, Walker won out that battle to finish 2nd ahead of Guinchard to close out the podium. Babickova would get handed a penalty dropping her to 10th. 4th would then go the way of Georgian Alexander Abkhavaza
Pylka got the hole shot into turn 1 with a mega start over Walker, Abkhavaza and Guinchard. Walker quickly dived for the lead on Pylka, dropping the Polish man dropped to 2nd place. Walker then tried to pull a gap, but didn’t quite have the legs on the chasing field. Pylka was all over the rear bumper of Walker for the lead. Pylka made his move at turn 16, but Guinchard made his move as well. The trio went 3 wide into the corner, with Guinchard coming out on top. Pylka was shuffled onto the grass, allowing Abkhavaza to come passed for 3rd. Walker quickly got back in front of Guinchard to take the lead and sit in the driving seat for the winter cup.
With just a handful of laps left to go, Pykla made the move on Abkhavaza to get him onto the podium. Then Guinchard made the move on Walker for the lead. That with Pylka in 3rd, this was a must win race for Walker. Walker managed to retake the lead at turn 12, before Guinchard sent his KR Sport machine sailing down the inside of the final corner. That pushed Walker wide and allowed Pylka to have a look. But only a look. He had to back off, leaving him in the clutches of his team mates Abkavaza and Luzio. Then, Walker ran wide in the opening corners, allowing Pylka back to second and then out of nowhere, Callum Voisin made his way passed for 3rd having started 15th.
Guinchard held on to take the win over Oli Pylka with Callum Voisin completing a fantastic run to round out the podium. Walker ended up off the podium in 4th, which meant that Oli Pylka took the Winter Cup by 4 points. Thanks to his win, Guinchard finished runner up to the Polish man, with Walker having to settle for 3rd. Luzio classified 4th with Voisin 5th thanks to his amazing drive in the 2nd final.
