Grice wins at Val Vibrata against the odds

Kart racer Tom Grice is on a roll now after winning at the prestigious Italian Open final round at Val Vibrata in the Abruzzo. The Basildon teenager came back from qualifying right down in 34th, causing his mentor Mark Rose to say “He’s as good as any driver I’ve ever seen and he’s exceeded all my expectations.” Coming from someone who has worked with F1 and NASCAR drivers, Rose’s praise should not be taken lightly.

Racing with the PDB Gillard team, Tom started every qualifying heat nearer the back of the field than the front but in the first heat he came through to 9th, 8th in the second and then 7th in the third, all the time easily on the pace of the leaders. When the scores of each racer were added in, he had a starting position of 11th for the first of the main finals.

With Tom starting from a relatively low grid position the team took a gamble and saved their new tyres for the second race and although he was around a tenth of a second slower than the leaders he kept pushing throughout the 20-lap race. In the second final, “he drove a perfect race, led every lap and was fast enough to keep four kart-lengths ahead,” said Rose. Tom has finished the championship in 3rd against the best junior drivers in the world.

Coming after Tom’s win at the qualifying race for the European Championship, his confidence is sky-high and this weekend he will attempt to sew up the German Championship a round early when he travels to Michael Schumacher’s circuit at Kerpen with a lead of 40 points.

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