Kas Haverkort (15) has made the switch to Tony Kart over the last weekend and celebrated a double finals victory in his race debut at the ADAC Kart Masters in Germany. The Team NL talent will complete the rest of the 2019 season on the Tony Kart brand in combination with Vortex engines. The young karter from Heemserveen will race for Kartshop Ampfing / OTK factory from Italy. The first event on the program in the new outfit was the German ADAC Kart Masters at the Kerpen circuit over the weekend, with victory for Kas. Now, the focus is on the World Karting Championship in Finland in the OK class and followed by the KZ2 World Cup in Lonato.
Kas tested the week prior and was confident of the decision, “I have tested twice with Tony Kart and the first impression is good. The kart steers very easily; even if there is not so much grip on the track, it is a very good chassis and feels good in the front.”
Kartshop Ampfing / OTK Italy have the opportunity now to have this fast-paced Dutchman as part of their line-up for the remaining races in 2019, which can only benefit the leading brand team. “The team will be driving Tony Kart for the second year. It’s relatively new, but I think they can do well. They will support me in the remaining races this season, while I can help the team and the other drivers as well. We also receive factory support for our World Championship campaign.”
With two rounds to run of the ADAC series in Kerpen, Kas had little time to prepare with his new combination Tony Kart / Vortex, qualifying eighth overall, where he failed to get any clear laps in the session to see the real potential of his race package. Dry conditions prevailed for the heats as well, where he had a best result of P3 and ranked fifth in the OK senior class points. “It was late when we arranged everything with the transfer to the new team and chassis, so we only had a standard engine available at this time for the race meeting at Kerpen. We were basically as fast as the others in the practice, but I could feel we were lacking some engine power. Although we qualified P8, we could have been further up there, but there was so much traffic and I couldn’t really drive a decent lap. In the two heat races Saturday, I moved forward to finish P4, then had a penalty for the bumper after I hit one of the flaps on the track when I ran wide. The second race was quite good, making up five positions to finish in P3, giving me grid 5 for Final 1.”
Sunday’s finals were run in wet conditions, so it was Kas’s first experience with the OTK in the wet. He fell back at the start of the first race, but quickly made his way up to the front and won with a gap of seven seconds to local DKM front-runner Ben Dörr. Final 2 was more of a half-wet and half-dry race, with Kas posting some laps up to a second faster than the second driver. By the chequered flag, the new Tony Kart driver was a massive 12 seconds ahead of P2.
“The team at Kartshop Ampfing were very happy that I drove away from the field in the finals, these victories are very positive for the team. The team owner of Kartshop Ampfing, Thorsten, is happy. Together with Willemjan Keijzer, they did a lot in a short time. We still have a lot of work to do, but getting a win like this is always nice. The Tony Kart felt good and is very easy to control in the rain. It gives a new boost for them. I want to thank the whole team, Kartshop Ampfing, Vortex, OTK, my parents and family, Willemjan Keijzer, Thorsten, Kevin, Jeroen and all the sponsors.
“Next up, I have a training race in Finland this week in preparation for the World Championship on the track in Alahärmä. It will be fun. I'm quite excited! It is good to become familiar with Tony Kart and good preparation. I think there are many drivers. Following this, I have the World Cup in the KZ2 in Lonato, Italy and then another DKM race. I’m looking forward to this new adventure and I will do everything I can to achieve good results.”
