South Africa beat 58 other countries to take the Nations Cup at the 2014 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals held in Spain this past weekend.
The pace of the ten-driver team, which contested various karting classes over the six-day event, ensured that South Africa won this prestigious trophy, ahead of Australia and host-nation Spain.
Going into the final day, South Africa had no less than six drivers make it through to the final races in four World Championship categories comprising a total of 270 international contestants.
Durban's Cristiano Morgado, who has four world titles to his name already, had an especially good outing as he finished second in a rain-soaked final for the DD2 Masters class. Morgado was fastest in every qualifying session and won all his heats to start on pole for the final, but his gamble to run a different set-up ultimately cost him the win.
In the DD2 Gearbox class, South Africa was represented by Bradley Liebenberg and Benjamin Habig in the finals. Both had performed admirably in the qualifying heats, with Liebenberg starting an excellent fourth on the 34-kart grid. However, set-up problems saw him battle to achieve the right grip on an extremely wet track, and he faded to 14th, while Habig fought his way into the top 10 before dropping out at half distance after yet another incident.
Junior Max contender Jordan Sherratt qualified quickest and won one of his elimination heats. However, as the week progressed, the 15-year-old Durbanite was dogged by bad luck and some desperate driving from his competitors knocked him to the back of the field in two of his heats. Then on a rain-soaked track in the final, a disappointed Sherratt was knocked out in the opening lap.
Similar fates befell the two SA drivers who qualified for the finals in Senior Max. Capetonians Eugene Denyssen and Luke Herring shared the fifth row of their final event, but, again, chaotic starts by many of the desperate drivers saw them losing several places. Herring was eventually placed 17th and Denyssen 25th.