2005 IKWC Recap

Werner Truegler ist Indoor-Weltmeister!! Werner Truegler (artofcart.com / kartsport.at), 2005 Indoor Kart World Champion Driver. Austrian driver Werner Truegler is 2005 Indoor Kart World Champion!

For the 1st time ever, drivers from across the world met to compete in an Indoor Kart World Championship event held at a rental kart facility. The historic event, organized by Racingschools.com, brought together in competition 40 drivers from 9 different countries at the F1 Race Factory Indoor racing facility in Phoenix, Arizona - USA. Drivers from Brazil, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia, even Jamaica and Ukraine, as well as plenty of Americans, took on the challenge. In the end, after 2 grueling days of racing where drivers ran 4.5 hours of racing + practice, 33 year old Austrian driver Werner Truegler (Team CartofCart.com / kartsport.at / kcm.at) took home to Vienna, Austria, the World Championship Title, as well as US$2000, and a free entry for next year's event (US$500).

During practice on the days preceding the event, it did not take long for the Austrians and Brazilians to emerge as the class of the field. As they traded fast laps and lap records among themselves in practice, it became clear that they were the top favorites in this event. Sebastian Circkens (Team Plus-City.at) from the Netherlands, and Ian Pierce (TMS-Racing.com) from Jamaica were also very fast in practice, as well as American hopefuls Brad Godfrey, Dave Nekula, and Brandon Lax. Juan Martinez (Team Sophro Racing A) from Colombia also showed great potential. It seemed any of these great drivers had a fair shot at the title. After Friday practice, any hopes of an advantage from track experience and kart knowledge by local Phoenix drivers over the out-of-town and foreign drivers soon dissipated. The local aces, such as 2004 Arizona Indoor Kart Champion Brad Godfrey and 2004 Red Bull F1RF top qualifier Brandon Lax, had never faced such stiff competition at their home track.

The 2005 IKWC event consisted of a points race over 4 endurance races. The first 3 races (1hr each) would determine the top 25 drivers in points that would be on the BIG final, a very demanding 1hr30min race. Once racing began, and after all groups raced on day one, 2 Austrian drivers, Alex Gumpenberger (Team Plus-City Racing) and Steve Nico Schweinzer (Team CartofCart.com / kartsport.at / SiteX.at / kcm.at) were at the top of the charts. With 2 victories on Saturday (the only driver to do so on day 1), Gumpenberger looked the strongest in contention. The second day however, did not turn as well for either Austrian, and when it was all done, Gumpenberger would finish 4th overall, while Schweinzer would finish 8th overall. The 3rd Austrian, Werner Truegler, who had finished day 1 with a 3rd and 7th place finishes in Races 1 & 2, came from behind on day 2, scoring a victory in Race 3 and another on the Final, clinching the overall title with 90.5 points, just 4.5 points ahead of Brazilian Thiago Costa (TopKart.com.br), who finished 2nd, with 86 points. Costa ran very consistently, and though he did not score a single victory throughout the event, he obtained two 2nds and two 5ths on his 4 races, scoring a total of 86 points and proving one does not have to necessarily win to finish at the top of the charts.

Going into the big 1hr30min final race, Pedro Washington (TopKart.com.br) was leading the championship with 70.5 points, over Schweinzer with 66.5. Pierce and Truegler followed with 65.5, Gumpenberger with 64, and Costa with 63. A number of other drivers down the grid still had mathematical chances, some better than others, and the reality was that anything could happen. And it did.


Pedro Washington basically needed to finish the final race no worst than 3rd position to win the title without having to depend on any other driver's results. Though Truegler went on to lead and win the 1hr30min Final race by a very slim margin of just 2.3 seconds over Costa, Washington still had hopes of winning the title until about 15 minutes to go in the race. That was when his World Championship title hopes evaporated in a bang, as one of his kart's rear wheels broke off, sending him into the barrier and forcing the Brazilian to retire before the end. Washington finished a distant 21st on that final race, and though disappointed with his on-track misfortune, he was soon elated to find out that the overall outcome of the race for the other drivers (mainly Gumpenberger, Schweinzer, and Pierce) still allowed him to score enough points to barely hold on to 3rd place in the final Championship standings, with just 1 point over a very frustrated Gumpenberger in 4th, and 2 points over (a no less frustrated) Pierce in 5th. Costa, who had come into the final only 6th place in points, was also very happy at the end of the final, as his great 2nd place finish on the Final, along with Washington's, Gumpenberger's, Schweinzer's, and Pierce's misfortunes, shot him up to the #2 position in the Championship final points standings. With their 2nd and 3rd respective final positions in the 2005 Indoor Kart World Championship, both Costa and Washington also won a free entry in next years event ($500 each), and both say they'll be back in 2006 to win the title!

Truegler's race in the final "looked" easy, since he lead the race almost from the start, but as Truegler coments, it was quite a diferent story: "After 90 minutes of flat-out racing, at the end it was only a 2.3 seconds difference between myself and Thiago Costa in 2nd place! It may have looked easy for people watching since as there seemed to be a big lead between myself and 2nd place for most of the race, but that was because I had left to do my pitstop for very late, on lap 111 (of 121), while Thiago had made his pitstop closer to the beggining of the race. That difference in pitstop strategy had left a big gap between us, until my stop. Then, when I stopped, it became visibly very close. I did my pitstop in 16,9s extra time, while Thiago had done his in 19,6s. If my pitstop time had been equal to Thiago's I would have come back on track side-by-side with him, as the gap between us on lap 112 was axactly 2,67s !! The fact is, that my pitstop was 2.7 seconds faster than Thiago's and the gap between us at the finishing line was 2.3 seconds. This was one of the closest races I ever did." Incredibly, it seems the 1hr30min Final race was won by Truegler in the pits, thanks to his pitstop performance being 2.7secs quicker than Costa's! Had Costa won the Final race, Trugler would have still won the Championship, but by a very narrow margin of just 1.5 points instead of 4.5 points! Anyway you look at it, it was a very close finish on the Final race and the Championship between Truegler and Costa.

All other drivers tried hard to break the Austrian & Brazilian domination, however, unsuccessfully. Jamaican driver Ian Pierce (TMS-Racing.com) came the closest, and was the only driver other than Austrians or Brazilians to also take a victory during the event (Pierce won in Race 2 Group 2). Colombian Juan Martinez was the best of the Colombians, scoring a 3rd place on R2 and setting the fastest lap of the race on Race 3, and had a strong run on the final but retired less than 5 minutes from the end, with a fuel pickup problem. The top American drivers were locals Brad Godfrey, David Nekula, and Brandon Lax, finishing 6th, 7th, & 9th overall in the Championship, all racing for Team RacinFurniture.com. Lax and Godfrey (RacinFurniture.com) were the American drivers that came closest to a victory, with Lax scoring a 2nd place finish on Race 1, and Godfrey a 2nd place finish on Race 3.

Dutch driver Sebastiaan Circkens who had arrived in Phoenix as a privateer racing for the Circkens Racing Team, joined Team Plus-City.com at the last minute, and drove as team mate to Plus-City.com's #1 driver, Austrian Alex Gumpenberger. The team looked very strong on day 1, but bad luck on day 2 saw them finish 4th overall in the Team Championship, just 4 points behind Team RacinFurniture.com in 3rd. Gumpenberger and Circkens shared their frustration for missing the top three championship prize paying positions by a minuscule margin, in both the Driver and Team Championship.

The 2005 Indoor Kart World "Team" Championship went to the Brazilian squad, Team TopKart.com.br. The team, originally set to come to the IKWC with a line up of 7 drivers, eventually came with a total of "just" 5 drivers. Even with 2 less drivers, the Brazilian team was still the biggest team competing in the IKWC, and their skill and number of drivers made them a favorite for the Team Championship. Two less drivers made no difference, and the Team World Championship title went to team members Thiago Costa, Pedro Washington, Filipe Jorge, Marcio Arcoverde, & Dico Oliveira. However, it was a close finish against Team ArtofCart.com from Austria, which had only 2 drivers in its line-up. The Brazilians reached the title with a 2nd place finish in Race 1 by Costa, 2 victories by Washington in R2 & R3, and another 2nd place by Costa in the final (R4), totaling 96 points. Just 2 points behind, Team ArtofCart.com finished in 2nd position in the Team Championship, with a 3rd place finish on R1 by Truegler, a 3rd in R2 by Schweinzer, and 2 victories in R3 & the final (R4) by Truegler. Local effort Team RacinFurniture.com finished 3rd in the Team Championship, with a 2nd place finish by Lax in R1, a 6th place in R2 by both Godfrey (group1) and Lax (group 2), a 2nd by Godfrey in R3, and a 4th also by Godfrey in the Final, totaling 86 points. Each of the top 3 Championship teams received 1 free driver entry for the 2006 event ($500 value).

The 2005 Indoor Kart World "Team" Championship went to the Brazilian squad, Team TopKart.com.br.

Racingschools.com, organizer of the 2005 Indoor Kart World Championship, would like to extend a BIG thank you to Yokohama Tire Co. (yokohamatire.com), who through F1Rf's great efforts, stepped in a a last minute sponsor, supplying all new tires for the event; BIG thanks also to F1 Race Factory (f1racefactory.com) for their great world class facility, awesome crew, and for being great to work with; thanks to Motorsports Mania TV show (motorsportsmania.tv) for their coverage of the event; and finally, a REALLY, REALLY BIG THANKS to all competing drivers, the pioneers who believed in this new World Championship competition, and whom without, it could not become a reality. Thank you!

Racingschools.com was very pleased with the event and has announced that next year's edition (2006) is also planned to be run at the F1 Race Factory facility in Phoenix, and should attract even more drivers from even more countries.

www.indoorkartworldchampionship.com

Note: All drivers who raced in the 2005 IKWC are invited to submit photos and race reports from their experience at the IKWC to be posted on the IKWC website, as well as any suggestions to improve the event for next year. Beacause of limited space we cant promise to post everyone's material, but we'll select the best submissions and photos to be up on the site. Please send your material to ikwc@racingschools.com

More pictures in the 2005 Image Gallery >>