With scrutineering, chassis distribution to all the drivers and the traditional Welcoming party wrapped up at Sarno, Monday marked the official opening of this year’s Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals as the first Non-Qualifying Practice sessions unfolded all day for the 360 drivers entered in the competition.
Put in the odd-numbered group for each of his three free sessions on schedule, Jace had a first good run around the 1700 meter-long layout of Sarno taking the 8th-fastest lap time out of 36 drivers at the wheel of his Sodikart n°303.
The two other sessions following in the afternoon were mainly put to good use for exploring the possibilities of the Sodikart / Rotax material while trying new set-ups that made him improve his lap time pace compared to the morning session.
“My first run on track went well in the opening practice sessions. We are still early in the week, so we came up with different set-ups to improve our pace. What we tried later in the day didn’t pay off entirely yet as we couldn’t maximize the performance as planned but that’s what training is for,” he said in his debrief.
Jace is back on track this Tuesday for three more Non-Qualifying Practice sessions before tackling Qualifying on Wednesday. You can follow his progress in his first Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals here.
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- Text: Guillaume Alvarez
- Photo: Cody Schindel / Canadian Karting News
