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Parrott’s European season comes to an unlucky end
Jason’s European Kart Championship ended in disappointment in France (Salbris International Circuit) at the weekend after his engine failed to start first time in both of the main races.
The 19-year-old, who races for the Italian MGM Racing team, was second quickest in free practice but after an engine failure he needed to take part in timed qualifying on his second-best engine. This put him 18th, but Jason was able fight his way through to 8th in both heat races to start 10th on the final grid.
Whereas in previous years kart engines have been simple devices that start after being pushed, the new generation have starter motors, batteries and ignition keys, which of course mean there is more to go wrong.
The engine started in the pits, but as the flag was raised for the parade lap Jason was left sitting on the grid. He was pushed back off the track and some frantic work got the kart going before the race start so Jason tore round the track to join the rest of the field for the rolling start.
He retook his original starting position and after the lights went green was pushing all the time to move up to 7th. Unfortunately a Finnish driver drove into the back of him so he was pushed to the back of the field until his engine broke again. To add insult to injury, Jason was then excluded from the race for cutting out part of the track to get back to his position before the race started.
This meant he would start 32nd and last for the second race of the day, but very nearly didn’t even get to do that after the engine refused to start again. After jump-starting it with a borrowed battery he was off. Determined to put in an impressive performance Jason quickly moved up to 19th, but this was not high enough to net him any championship points and he failed to hold on to third in the championship.
In spite of the French race not going to plan, Jason finishes the championship in a career-best sixth place and after scoring his first international podiums during the year and has caught the attention of the major kart factories. He is now looking forward to the World Championship in Belgium at the end of September, and also has the chance to compete in the Asia-Pacific Championship in Macau in December if enough sponsorship can be raised.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:23 am