Contact deprives Finlay of impressive finish on debut in IAME World Finals
Finlay made his debut in the 2023 IAME World Finals last week, taking place at the world-famous Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.
Having finished in the top five at the MSA Kartmasters British Kart Grand Prix event earlier this year, Finlay has qualified for the IAME World Finals.
Finlay drove for Fusion Motorsport across the event, competing in the X30 Mini class, against over 100 fellow drivers, in various heat races.
The Staffordshire-based driver joined over 400 drivers who took part in various karting classes during this year’s World Finals.
Finlay showed good progress on Wednesday, with the Fusion Motorsport driver was placed in Group A, where his first heat was against drivers in Group A vs B. Finlay started his first heat from seventeenth on the grid, out of a field of thirty-four drivers.
During the six-lap encounter, the Maximum Motorsport driver made up twelve places to finish the heat in fifth place, where he was one of three Fusion Motorsport drivers who finished in the top five.
Finlay managed to get through Thursday, where his fast pace went unrewarded, due to two on-track incidents.
The first heat of the day for the Fusion Motorsport driver was Group A vs E.
Finlay started from seventeenth on the grid, out of a field of thirty-four drivers.
During the six-lap race, on the last lap, Finlay was running in 9th place.
On the last two corners of the final lap, contact from a driver behind meant that Finlay would finish the race in 19th place.
Finlay started the second heat of the day, Group A vs D, in seventeenth position.
A first-corner incident happened on the opening lap and despite trying his best, Finlay was unable to avoid the on-track incident.
Despite running as high as 8th place in the race, the nosecone on his Fusion Motorsport kart took some contact and was rubbing on the front tyres.
Due to this, Finlay was classified in 19th place, after a nosecone penalty was applied post-race.
Friday proved to be a tough day for Finlay in this year’s IAME World Finals at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.
Finlay began the day well by going fastest in the warm-up for the X30 Mini class.
The first Qualifying heat of the day for Finlay was Group A vs C where he started from seventeenth on the grid, out of a field of thirty-four drivers.
During the six-lap heat race, Finlay made up seven places to claim tenth position at the flag, setting the fastest lap in the process.
The Fusion Motorsport driver started the second Qualifying heat of the day, Group A vs F, in seventeenth position and set about working his way up the order.
Finlay worked hard and once more took a tenth-place finish in the final heat races ahead of the Super Heats taking place on Saturday.
Finlay was deprived of the opportunity to show his true pace, after contact in SuperHeat 2 ruined his chances on the final day.
Finlay’s consistent scoring across all of the qualifying heats, meant he finished in 29th place overall out of the 110 drivers competing in the X30 Mini class.
This meant that Finlay would start SuperHeat Two on the seventh row, out of a total of thirty-six drivers.
Finlay opted to use his second set of new tyres during SuperHeat 2 to ensure a prominent position for the Final.
From fourteenth on the grid, Finlay got as high as fifth place, only to receive contact from one of his teammates, which led to a damaged wheel hub, meaning that Finlay limped home in twenty-seventh place.
With a combination of the results from the Qualifying heats and Superheat, Finlay managed to scrape through to take part in the X30 Mini Final, starting from thirty-third on a grid.
Despite making the Final, damage from the SuperHeat encounter put Finlay on the back foot, where he soldiered on to finish in thirtieth place in the Final itself.
Finlay showed impressive pace all week, setting two fastest laps to his credit.
Everybody supporting Finlay on his IAME World Final debut are certainly proud of the achievements he has accomplished in this event, against 110 other drivers.
Finlay sends his congratulations to Will Green from Jamie Green Racing on a fantastic drive and taking victory in the 2023 IAME X30 Mini World Final.
Finlay sends his grateful thanks to his mechanic Macaulay Austin, for taking the young Staffordshire driver under his wing during the event and for all the support and guidance he provided.
Finlay also sends his thanks to Fusion Motorsport.
