Russell looks to rebound after Killarney off-day
Motorsport
The Namibian youngster is still adjusting after moving up in race category.
Namibia’s top Bambino go-kart racer Russell Josephat faced a challenging weekend at the South Africa Rotax Max Challenge, failing to make the top-ten cut in the first event of the championship series.
The event was held at the Killarney racetrack in Cape Town, where the eight-year-old Josephat finished 14th in Saturday’s race, his lowest placement in his last ten races.
His coach and father, JP Josephat, attributed Saturday’s underwhelming result to difficult wet-weather conditions and unfamiliarity with the Killarney track.
“We had practice on Thursday, but didn’t go well as on practice 3 he was hit by another driver sending him flying into the tyres, which also hurt him physically. I could see his confidence go to zero after the incident.
“On Friday, instead of improving and building on the confidence, we were hit with rain showers, and it was disastrous as Russell had never driven in the rain before. He came alive again on race day, but the local drivers had the advantage of knowing the track better,” he said.
Despite the setback, JP said they are taking it as a learning curve and remain optimistic about future improvements, as Russell gets more familiar adjusting to the new go-kart since moving up a category.
“Finishing 14th out of 16 wasn’t ideal, but I’m proud of how hard he fought. By the end of the race, he was keeping up with the leading pack. There are a lot of areas to work on, but I’m hopeful we’ll improve with time,” he noted.
Josephat was recently awarded the outstanding racer of 2024 accolade, in the Bambino category at the recent Namibia Motorsport Federation (NMF) awards.
His next race will be Leg 2 of the Namibian national championship series, to be held at Tony Rust track on 12 April. Russell won the leg 1 event convincingly.
The event was held at the Killarney racetrack in Cape Town, where the eight-year-old Josephat finished 14th in Saturday’s race, his lowest placement in his last ten races.
His coach and father, JP Josephat, attributed Saturday’s underwhelming result to difficult wet-weather conditions and unfamiliarity with the Killarney track.
“We had practice on Thursday, but didn’t go well as on practice 3 he was hit by another driver sending him flying into the tyres, which also hurt him physically. I could see his confidence go to zero after the incident.
“On Friday, instead of improving and building on the confidence, we were hit with rain showers, and it was disastrous as Russell had never driven in the rain before. He came alive again on race day, but the local drivers had the advantage of knowing the track better,” he said.
Despite the setback, JP said they are taking it as a learning curve and remain optimistic about future improvements, as Russell gets more familiar adjusting to the new go-kart since moving up a category.
“Finishing 14th out of 16 wasn’t ideal, but I’m proud of how hard he fought. By the end of the race, he was keeping up with the leading pack. There are a lot of areas to work on, but I’m hopeful we’ll improve with time,” he noted.
Josephat was recently awarded the outstanding racer of 2024 accolade, in the Bambino category at the recent Namibia Motorsport Federation (NMF) awards.
His next race will be Leg 2 of the Namibian national championship series, to be held at Tony Rust track on 12 April. Russell won the leg 1 event convincingly.
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