Bray Ends Year on High Note in Mexico

Bray Ends Year on High Note in Mexico

Globe-trotting Kiwi karter Daniel Bray has ended his 2014 season on a high note - finishing third at a big street race meeting in Mexico.

The Auckland-based international, a former SuperKarts USA ProTour champion, and third last year at the KZ2 class World Cup meeting in France, was part of a star-studded group of top-level kart racers from around the world invited to Guadalajara in Mexico's north-west to contest the inaugural meeting.

Bray, driving for the works GP Karts team from Italy, was quick in practice but was prevented from matching that pace in qualifying (he set the 13th best time) by a flat tyre.

Undeterred he made it to eighth from 13th in the first heat, then from eighth to second in the second, setting the fastest race lap each time.

That saw him start the Final second and spend the race in a three-way battle for the lead with four-time former world champion Jonathan Thonon from Belgium, and five-time former champ Davide Fore from Italy.

"I was in second behind Fore for 10 laps," Bray said from the airport at Guadalajara last night, " then Thonon passed me and Fore and I followed him through."

Fore was not particularly happy with Thonon's move and immediately forced his way back past Bray - 'he was super-mad and I had to move out of his way to avoid contact,' said Bray - and take off after the new race leader.

That left Bray in third place which he held to the flag, with Thonon managing to hold off Fore and win.

The Guadalajara meeting is the second at which Bray has shared a podium with Davide Fore in recent weeks. In October Bray finished second to the Italian at the big Race of The Stars KZ2 class meeting on Australia's Gold Coast.

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