Round 3 Race Report - Junior Rotax Championship - Whilton Mill 24th / 25th May 2025
Last weekend was yet another impressive performance and for young Novice Luca Erdos, in only his 5th ever event in the highly competitive Junior Rotax Class.
Once again, Luca showed very strong pace during the Friday testing sessions, against strong opposition, being within 1 tenth of the eventual pole setter.
When it came to qualifying on Saturday, unfortunately, due to budget constraints, we were not able to hire a race (more powerful) engine, whilst other competitors bolted theirs on.
Despite this, Luca still managed to qualify 9th (out of 24 drivers) in his session, which translated to 12th Overall – out of 47 drivers. Indeed, a very impressive performance given he was running with his test engine. The next Novice driver qualified 21st…
Luca, once again, won the Novice Driver Trophy. Something he has achieved at every race meeting this far.
Heat (Race) 1 started well, with Luca carving his way through the field and was fighting for 8th place, when bad luck hit…. his left front wheel came off under braking for Ashby Corner. An unfortunate retirement after such a strong start.
Undeterred, Luca gathered his focus and went into Heat 3 (Race 2) from a starting position of 12th on the Grid. Luca made a great start and was running in the top 8th when contact was made, and he dropped back to 14th. He fought his way back through the field and finished just outside the top 10, in 11th place. This performance was good enough to propel him straight into the A-Final, even with the DNF in Race 1. The other seven Novice Drivers in Junior Rotax went into the B-Final that weekend. Luca, once again, won the Novice Driver Trophy. Something he has achieved at every race meeting this far.
Into the A-Final, and Luca had a low starting position of 27th (out of 34 drivers), as a result of the earlier DNF in Race 1, which scored him ZERO points. Driving well beyond his hours, Luca made 7 places in the first two laps! A further lap and he was in 18th, when another driver – who was eventually penalised for it – pushed Luca off onto the grass, something that unfortunately happens a lot as no one likes to have a novice (black plate) in front of them. Luca dropped back to last, eventually finishing 25th on the road before he received a 5-second penalty for contact with another driver.
Everybody at Erdos Performance Racing is super proud of Luca’s highly impressive performances, given his lack of hours and budget, against much more experienced competition. We are now working very hard to secure more funding so that we can provide Luca the equipment he needs to compete on a more level playing field, but more importantly, to allow Luca to continue to develop his talent for driving.
His next race is at PFI (Paul Fletcher International) in Lincolnshire, arguably the best Karting track in the UK.
Luca is already preparing for it, doing SIM sessions on a daily basis, enjoying his newly signed Sponsor - Heusinkveld – who has given him the best set of SIM Pedals in the market, The Ultimate Plus Pedals.
Thank you Heusinkveld!
