After a daunting nine days of preparation and testing J3’s two junior drivers, Andrew Palmer and Alessandra Madrigal stepped to the fore in New Castle with an overwhelming display of speed and control at the 2010 US RMAX Grand Nationals. Saturday’s final witnessed the 1-2 punch of the J3 Competition Race Department with Palmer taking a four second victory over his teammate Alessandra Madrigal who succeeded the field by an impressive margin of her own. The success in New Castle made history along with J3 Competition claiming two of the three junior spots on America’s team for the Rotax World Finals in La Conca, Italy.
With Madrigal arriving three days late the team worked intensely with Andrew Palmer to acquire the proper data sets in order to create optimal setups for the different conditions. Thankfully the team was able to utilize its Unipro data systems with G-Force sensor, thus enabling accurate track mapping and setup comparison. Throughout the three days of testing the team was confident as Palmer was the fastest driver on course and when taking into account the lack of ‘draft’ testing it was clear that J3 had a distinct advantage. “Moving into the heat races our objective was clear and we met that, thus moving into Super Saturday there was not questioning our strategy.”
The heat races boded well for Madrigal as she worked cleanly through each heat race minimizing any chances at a poor finish. Madrigal’s disciplined driving set her with a solid fifth place starting position for the pre-final. Palmer too had a solid set of heat races, after capturing the win in heat race one, Palmer finished solidly in the second heat and unfortunately had a setback in heat three. After contact while making a pass for fourth Palmer was able to salvage a sixteenth place finish which was good enough to grid in twelfth for the pre-final.
After an early morning driver debrief on Saturday, Palmer and Madrigal took the track for morning warm-up and they stopped the timed session P1 and P2 setting the expectation immediately. Once the green flag flew in the pre-final Madrigal settled in nicely in third with Palmer falling back to 20th after a hectic start. Palmer proceeded to dispose of the competition systematically while Madrigal let the race play into her hands. With two laps to go, Madrigal made a move into second place and proceeded to go to the point with one lap to go. At the checkered flag it was Madrigal first and Palmeri in fifth all the way from 20th.
Once the final was underway it only took until turn four before J3 Competition was first and second with Madrigal ahead of Palmer. Palmer passed Madrigal on lap two and set sail on the field as he consistently clocked 1.05.3’s on his way to an impressive four second victory and his first National Champioship and a chance to represent USA at the world finals. Following Palmer across the line in second was teammate Alessandra Madrigal who became the first female American and Filipino driver to earn a spot at the world finals.
For further information regarding J3 Competition’s Race Department and Junior Program please contact the Race Department at Technical@J3Competition.com All inquires about Kosmic Kart, Vortex Engines, ROK Series Engines, Unipro Lap Timers, IBEA, JHC, OTK Kart Parts, and Tranzformer products please contact the Sales Department at; Sales@J3Competition.com or 814-864-1846.
About J3 Competition
J3 Competition Inc. is an undisputed leader in Race Services since 2004, providing the necessary tooling and management to take drivers to the next level. Starting in 2015 through its COMPKART ™ brand, J3 Competition will provide a full line of high-quality chassis and products designed and engineered for the Karting industry alongside it potent Race Department. J3 Competition will aim to deliver the COMPKART ™ chassis line to the North American market as well as customers globally in 2015 and beyond with unprecedented performance and service. With its content, B2B, and B2C websites presently under construction, please visit http://www.j3competition.com along with all its social media outlets to stay up to date on the latest releases and happenings regarding the COMPKART brand.
