Max Papis Racing with Fittipaldi Wins the 2009 Florida Winter Tour Championship
By Max Papis Racing | March 18, 2009 at 1:00 pmThe Florida Winter Tour (FWT) is officially over and Max Papis Racing with Fittipaldi impressed by winning the Rotax Senior class championship with driver Fabio Orsolon.
Winning three of the four previous races, Orsolon arrived at Ocala with 179 points lead in the Rotax Senior Class championship, and all he needed was 8th place finish on Saturday’s race to clinch the championship in advance. With this big advantage and with the title on his mind, the young Brazilian was extremely conservative on the race and focused only on the points. Fabio finished in the 6th position and was champion!
With the championship secured, on Sunday Fabio could relax and watch the race from the grandstands, but instead he battled from the 7th starting position to finish 2nd place on the pre-final and 3rd on the final race, giving MPRF another podium!
Even though all the attention and focus was on Fabio Orsolon during all week, MPRF was well represented in the Rotax Masters Class with team owner, Max Papis, and veterans Carlos de Quesada and Rico Campos. Mad Max who faced several mechanical problems and was forced to start the final race from the last row, charged through the field and impressed by finishing in the 7th position.
De Quesada and Campos finished in the 12th and 13th positions respectively
The team’s young gun, Michael de Quesada, made consistent runs in the Rotax Mini Max races, has shown maturity and improvement during the championship, and proves to be a contender for the podium soon.
Max Papis, team owner/driver commented on the weekend, “I am very proud of our first major championship. It is great to see Fabio’s and all team’s hard work has paid off. I am even prouder to have proved once again that BIREL is a winning product everywhere in the world. I started my team with the plan to give opportunity to young stars and Fabio is definitely a driver to watch for in the future. I am looking forward to having Max Papis Racing with Fittipaldi represented at the Rotax World Finals.”
Papis added, “I would like to thank Bill Wright of FWT for organizing such a competitive, international, and professional championship, and Legree Motorsports for giving us strong Rotax engines for winning races. Finally, special thanks to all my sponsors, without them none of this would have been possible.
Birel SPA contributed immensely to our success by providing us with the leading karts. MRP Motorsport gave us always great support and technical assistance on at off the track. Arai Helmets kept us always very safe. Alpinestars provided us with the best racing shoes and gloves in the business. Troy Lee Designs provides us with some super cool team uniform. Safety Kleen kept our team immaculately clean and as environmentally friendly as we can get! Mechanix Wear kept our crew safe and with style. Dragon Optical gave us the best shades in the business to protect us from the sunny days at the track. Beta Tools supported us with the best tools available, not to mention, the coolest to look at with all that orange! Alfano kept us ahead of the competition with data logging and information.”
Max Papis Racing with Fittipaldi has finished once again at the top, and will now focus on the local races during the season in preparation for another successful Florida Winter Tour, in 2010.
Links:
www.birel.com
www.mrpmotorsport.com / www.GoBirel.com
www.araihelmets.com
www.alpinestars.com
www.troyleedesigns.com
www.safety-kleen.com
www.mechanix.com
www.dragonalliance.com
www.beta-tools.com
www.alfano.com
