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Trio Of Junior Karters Win DAMC Formula Gulf 1000 Young Driver Award
The final round of the DAMC Karting Championship took place at the Kartdrome this past weekend and at the end of the day three junior drivers walked away with the DAMC Formula Gulf 1000 Young Driver Award, which entitles them to a test day with the region's premier junior single seater category.
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Alexandre Silanine, Piers Pakenham-Walsh and Philippe Valenza all qualified for the coveted prize, but only after a drama packed Rotax Max Senior Final on Friday, 1 March at the Kartdrome.
On the day Philippe Valenza was in superb form winning the Final and doing enough to bag runner-up place in the DAMC title race. While Alexandre Silanine, who was third, did enough to secure the 2012-2013 DAMC Championship title. Thus he and Valenza became the inaugural winners of the DAMC Formula Gulf 1000 Young Driver Award.
Although Piers Pakenham-Walsh crossed the line in second place in the Final, he had lost his transponder during the race and consequently was excluded from the results.
Pakenham-Walsh's disappointment was short lived as Dubai Autodrome general manager Hamish Brown and Formula Gulf 1000 principal Barry Hope agreed to extend the award to include the top three drivers in the DAMC championship standings.
Brown explained the reasoning behind the decision, "Piers had showed consistency and maturity in his driving and approach – after discussion with Barry, it was agreed that we would extend the test drive opportunity to him as the training could be carried out viably together."
Hope added, "I think everyone present understood that Piers, an extremely talented and hard working young racer, suffered a very unfortunate technical failure which put him out of contention. We therefore are very happy to include Piers in the Formula Gulf 1000 test session with Philippe and Alexandre."
The level of racing in the UAE Rotax Max challenge is of the highest calibre, and the local karting scene is thriving. Due to this a generation of gifted and committed youngsters are emerging through the ranks.
"Philippe Valenza and Alexandre Silanine – both drivers showed their skills and competitiveness – with close racing and a tight championship right down to the last race," reflected Hope. "Racing was close and shows the talent that the UAE has and is coming through with grids increasing - we all hope working together this continues."
These sentiments were echoed by Brown, "It's quite clear that kart racing is on the up and up here, which is great news for UAE motorsport. Kart racing is not only a motor racing apprenticeship, but serves as an essential feeder mechanism to the upper rungs of the sport. Without it we would have no chance of developing talented local drivers. I was also impressed with the standard of driving and equipment now being used.”
He added, "Philippe and Alexandre demonstrated great commitment and skills and are great role models to other younger karters coming into the sport."
Valenza, Silanine and Pakenham-Walsh will undergo a fully fledged test day with Formula Gulf 1000 before the end of this season at Dubai Autodrome.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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