Hawk sw orth be st of Bri ti sh as he be ats F1 s tar i n K art in g Wor ld C up

Jack Hawksworth proved himself as the best in his country and one of the best in the world in the fiercely-
contested CIK-FIA KZ1 Karting World Cup at Sarno – beating a Formula 1 star in the process as only cruel ill-
fortune prevented the young Bradford ace from finishing inside the final top ten.

Jack travelled to the southern Italian circuit near Naples knowing it was his golden opportunity to show the
international motor racing fraternity just how good he is, and off the back of some encouraging test sessions
with his Energy Corse outfit, hopes were high. However, right from the offset in free practice, he rapidly realised
that the weekend was not going to be an easy one...

“I think we felt we were going to be faster than we were at the start,” the 18-year-old reflected, “but we really
didn’t have the speed. We thought we had done enough to be right up there at the front, but other teams had
obviously made more progress than we had and were faster, and deservedly so. We got caught out by the CRG
and Intrepid guys using the Tec-Sav engines; they were so fast it was beyond belief. Even the official Tonykart
team couldn’t keep up with them – they were just ballistic.

“We worked like hell all weekend analysing the data and changing the set-up; we were flat-out to try and find
some more pace, and I was quite satisfied with 15th in qualifying – I was just two tenths off fifth, and it put us in
a good starting position.”

Indeed, to be that close to the sharp end amongst the 68 entrants – the very crème de la crème of worldwide
competition – was an admirable effort considering the problems the team had, and left Jack in with a good shout
in his four heat races. After recovering from an early ‘off’ in the first of them that dropped him down the field,
the Cullingworth speed demon registered two sixths, an eighth and a tenth to secure a more-than respectable
14th starting slot for the pre-final, into which only 34 of the participants would progress.

“We had an overheating problem with the engines, so in the heats it was just a case of keeping my cool under
pressure, not throwing it off the road and making sure I kept myself in the game,” he recounted. “I made quite a
good start in the pre-final and picked my way through; we were just lacking engine power still. There are a lot of
long straights and tight corners at Sarno, so you need good power off the corners to pull you down the following
straight.

“I was happy in tenth and thought that would be a good place to start the grand final; that would have put us in
a good position for a top ten finish overall, which was what the aim was when we had seen how fast the CRG
and Intrepid boys were. Unfortunately, though, with just two corners remaining the engine let go...”

That left Jack to begin the all-important grand final – the race that would see one of its starters crowned World
Cup winner – from a lowly 25th, with his chances of a decent result somewhat diminished. That notwithstanding,
the former British ICC Vice-Champion, Junior Max European Champion and Junior Max Vice-World Champion
demonstrated precisely why he is so highly-rated on the global stage with a gritty and intelligent performance to
work his way through to 13th at the chequered flag – a mere two spots shy of reigning KF1 World and European
Champion Marco Ardigò, less than two seconds away from the top ten, comfortably best-placed of the five Brits
in the event and ahead of a certain Jaime Alguersuari, Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 driver...

“I just thought ‘this is it, this is the World Cup,” he related. “I knew we were not going to win the race from 25th
nor even finish inside the top five probably, and we didn’t have the pace to go forward truthfully, so I knew I just
had to push 100 per cent and do the best job I possibly could. I kept my foot in around the outside of the first
few corners and got up to 20th straightaway. It was a really aggressive first lap actually, and I was soon up to
14th.

“For the first five laps or so we were absolutely rapid; we had a lot of pace and were coming through really fast.
I got up to tenth, but due to the fact I had been pushing so hard to make up places – getting on the gas early
and overtaking a lot – I overheated the rear tyres a bit and the kart started to slide. With that and the fact that
we were still lacking power, we had to be satisfied with 13th in the end.

“Considering I came through from the back following the engine seizure – in what I would say was probably the
hardest race all year – to finish just a couple of positions behind the reigning KF1 World Champion, I can’t be
unhappy with that. If you look at the fastest lap times, we really weren’t up there; we didn’t have the pace and
we were struggling. I did my maximum and finished as the top driver in the team and top Brit, so I’m pleased
with that. It’s always good to beat your team-mates and countrymen, and I successfully did that – and at the
end of the day, 13th in the world isn’t bad, is it..?

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