Dion stars in opening round of WSK Super Masters
Powering on from a strong showing at the WSK Champions Cup, kart racer Dion Gowda returnedt o the Adria International Circuit in Italy for the second leg of WSK’s February double-header, and the first round of the all-important WSK Super Masters series.
Determined to make amends for the previous frustrating weekend, Dion featured as a front-runner throughout Friday and Saturday’s qualifying heat races, following team-mate and recently crowned World Champion Freddie Slater to a clean sweep of Top 4 finishes. However, bad luck struck again for Dion, as a lap 1 incident ruled him out of contention in Sunday’s Final.
Heats
After qualifying 7th overall on Friday morning, Dion found himself starting on the second row for every Heat to follow in what proved to be one of his strongest weekends to date. From 3rd on the grid, Dion fought valiantly against Slater and his other team-mate Maxim Rehm to score 4th and 2nd in the opening two Heats.
On Saturday, this spree of pace and consistency continued, with finishes of 2nd, 4th and 3rd respectively. Dion’s electric pace was rewarded with 5th overall in the Qualifying Heat standings, and P3 start for Sunday’s Pre-Final A event.
Finals
With Dion lining up 3rd on the grid for Sunday morning’s Pre-Final, the race proved to be one of the tightest battles of the weekend so far. The three Ricky Flynn Motorsport karts of Slater, Rehm and Gowda fought off attacks from Mateev and Egozi to secure 1st, 2nd and 5th respectively.
Starting from 10th in the Final would prove to be the weekend’s biggest challenge for Dion. Despite a strong getaway, the ensuing lap 1 carnage once again caught the Indian driver out with no fault of his own.
Qualifying – 7th
Heat 1 – 4th
Heat 2 – 2nd
Heat 3 – 2nd
Heat 4 – 4th
Heat 5 – 3rd
Qualifying Heats – 5th
Pre-Final – 5th
Final – 31st
Dion’s next race comes at La Conca International Circuit in Italy for Round 2 of the WSK Super Masters, where the young Indian hopes to convert his Heat racing form into a strong final finish.
Photography by LRN Photo ©
Dion Gowda is supported by Strawberry Star Group, Ricky Flynn Motorsport, Kokoro Performance and Minus 273.