SA racer wins world karting title

South Africa’s Cristiano Morgado won the DD2 Master’s Class in the world’s most competitive karting series in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, on Saturday.

In beating out 72 other champion karters in his class from all parts of the world, the 35-year-old from Durban became the fi rst driver to win four World Champions in the Rotax Max Challenge Finals, a series that has been running since 1999.

Morgado won the Senior Max class in 2003, and since 2011 he has been the World DD2 Masters Rotax champion.

The other South Africans in the 10-strong team that travelled to Louisiana didn’t fare as well at the NOLA Raceway, half-an-hour outside New Orleans.

Luca Canderle from KZN finished 15th in the DD2 Open Class, while Ryan Frost from Gauteng managed 18th place.

Nathan Parkins (Gauteng) finished the Senior Max final in 14th place.

South Africa finished sixth in the Nations Cup, won by the USA.