THE MOTORSPORT LAP
SA racer wins his fifth world karting championship
Veteran Cristiano Morgado beats off close competition
Durban’s veteran kart racer Cristiano Morgado won the 2018 Rotax DD2 Masters Grand Final world championship in Conde-Paraiba, Brazil on Saturday. The 39-year-old started from pole position in the final after a week-long round of elimination races, and led from green light to chequered flag in energy-sapping hot conditions. He was hounded throughout the 20-lap final, initially by fellow South African Michael Stephen of Port Elizabeth, and then by Antti Ollikainen of Finland and Fraser Hart of New Zealand. Stephen finished in a close fifth place behind Matthew Hamilton of New Zealand and the top five were covered by just five seconds. Morgado’s win was a record-making fifth world championship karting title in the annual Rotax Grand Finals, which were first held in Puerto Rico in 2000. That event was won by another South African, Gavin Cronje, and Morgado’s latest win brings the victory tally of South Africans in this international series to 13. Morgado won his first Rotax world title ...
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