Campione!
Rob beats Europe's best to win prestigious
Winter Cup

100cc PR’s Robert Foster-Jones has proved that he’s one of Europe's top racing talents after winning the karting season’s annual curtain-raiser – the Winter Cup at Lonato, on the southern tip of Lake Garda in Italy (16/17 February).

Rob beat a quality field - packed with 132 of the world’s best racers - to win the prestigious trophy and says: “It’s fantastic, I’m over the moon – couldn’t be better! The weekend didn’t start brilliantly - I wasn’t great in practice and qualifying - but it all came good in the end.”

In a nail-biting 28 lap final, Rob got a great start from 4th on the grid and with a handful of laps had slotted into 2nd place. “I sussed out the leader (Jesper Wernersson, from Sweden) and the gap (between us) maintained itself but we edged away a little bit (from the chasing pack). Then Flavio Camponeschi (Italy) got involved and he overtook me, so I dropped back to 3rd. I realised after two or three laps of following him, that he wasn’t fast enough to take me back up to Jesper. So I overtook him and could see that Wernersson had a little bit more power going up the straights but I reckoned that towards the end of the race fitness would come into it”.

He was right, with the race running at a frenetic pace, during which Rob recorded the fastest lap, the pressure began to take its toll on some of the drivers around him. “I could see Wernersson’s kart beginning to slide around a little bit and I caught and passed him about 6 or 7 laps from the end and thought I could get away but he stayed with me. He then overtook me again about three laps from the end but on the penultimate lap I re-passed him going into the 2nd of the three hairpins and just held it to the line. And that was that really.”

He added: “It’s a feeling you can’t explain, really. It’s just fantastic. But this is a really big deal for me, as it will bring me to the attention of the key players in motorsport. I hope that we can produce more of the same for the rest of the season. And I must thank all the people who have helped me throughout the weekend – Moose, my mechanic (Mickey Higham), Ricky (Flynn), Gordy (Gordon Finlayson of GFR Engines), plus Martin and Dan of Pro Performance”

Rob’s team boss, Ricky Flynn commented: “It was a fantastic drive. That was one of the best last laps I’ve ever seen – at any level”.”

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