PODIUM FINISH MOVES MAX WALTON INTO ACADEMY TROPHY POINTS LEAD
Video on demand of the Academy Trophy Round Two Final available by clicking here
Max Walton (left) on the podium at round two of the 2023 FIA Karting Academy Trophy in Denmark. (Pic: KSP)
A second consecutive podium finish has elevated Australian Max Walton into the points lead in the 2023 FIA Karting Academy Trophy.
After finishing third in the opening round, the Gold Coast teenager continued to star on the world stage with a hard-fought runner-up placing at Round Two of the Series in Denmark on Sunday.
The SP Tools Australian Kart Championship leader is one of 45 young drivers from all around the world competing in this year’s FIA Academy Trophy. The Series is a formula unique in the world, aimed at training and detecting young talents who compete on equal terms. The OTK Group has been entrusted with the management of the identical Exprit/Vortex OK-Junior karts, which are randomly allocated.
Walton qualified 11th on Friday before charging his way to the front of the pack in his opening heat race to become the first Australian driver to win a race in the 14-year history of the Series. He continued to show tremendous poise throughout his remaining heat races and earn the right to start on the front row of the grid for the final.
After finding his way into the lead midway through the race, Walton was pushed wide after contact from round one winner Marius Barry-Berg and dropped to ninth position as a result, Barry-Berg was later handed a post-race penalty for the incident. From here, it was where Walton showed maturity beyond his years to drive in a calculated fashion and climb his way back up the order in the final ten laps.
With three laps remaining he had moved his way into second place, setting the fastest lap time in the process, a position he held until the end. He crossed the line 0.360 seconds adrift of Greek driver Vasileios Apostiolidis. Argentinian Santino Panetta rounded out the podium.
“The weekend had lots of ups and downs. In practice I was a bit off the pace and I had some minor engine issues in one of the heat races but I never gave up because I believed within myself that I could be on the podium by the end,” said Walton.
“The racing was very tough especially for the final because it’s very hard to keep your position on track as there is lots of passing opportunities and everyone wanted to pass every corner and not work together.
“When I got knocked off the track and fell back to ninth I knew I had a lot of pace and was one of the fastest on the track. With that in mind I just kept calm and worked with the drivers that were around me and I was able to make some positions to get up to second. I pushed as hard as a I could to get into the lead but just ran out of laps in the end.”
Making Walton’s performance even more impressive is the fact that compared to many of his rivals who have raced at the circuit previously, he hadn’t seen the track before the weekend.
He now heads into next month’s final round of the Series in Italy with a 15-point buffer atop of the standings over Spanish driver Hugo Marti with Barry-Berg one point further behind.
With the event doubling as the European Championships for the OK and OK-Junior categories, Australians Xavier Avramides and Lewis Francis were also competing. After qualifying 23rd, Avramides was eliminated on the opening lap of the OK final while Francis finished 28th in the OK-Junior final.
Max Walton in action during the qualifying heats in Denmark.