In Senior Max, Edward Brand found the pace he needed to take a convincing win in the Final as the fastest on track and claim the lead in the European Rotax championship after beginning with a disappointing qualifying session on Friday.

Charlie Eastwood of Ireland secured pole position by the narrowest of margins (0.001s) to start on P1 for all four heats, but Brand who eventually topped the ranking in the 72-kart field at the end of Saturday’s racing to start alongside 2nd quickest in the Qualifying, Pierce Lehane, all the way from Australia on his Euro debut.

British driver Harrison Scott was looking confident to take the honours following his impressive 3-wins-from-4 in the heats, plus victory over Brand in the Prefinal.

Although Brand was caught up in an incident early in the final, he chased Scott down and overtook him just after half-race distance, before stretching his lead to almost 1s by the chequered flag. It was another excellent Max Final, as it was at the opening round in Belgium, which saw class rookie Philip Morin take 3rd and step up for his maiden international senior podium. Bas de Laat was 4th and Thomas Benisri 5th as they crossed the line to win the close battle for minor placings inside the top 15.