Irish kart racer Robert Butler’s change of team appears to have paid off after he comfortably qualified for the European Championship Finals after the qualifier in Spain last weekend.

Now racing for the Dutch-based PDB Racing team on a Gillard kart, Robert was fast as soon as he arrived at the new Alcaniz circuit and went on to post second fastest lap in timed qualifying under the supervision of mechanic Jarlath Keary.

In the heat races he was consistently at the front, winning a heat after fighting off reigning Junior champion Jack Harvey, taking second in another and scoring solid top tens in the remaining two. This put Robert on grid two for the first of the two Final races.

Unfortunately there was trouble at the start, leaving Robert with a bent steering assembly. He dropped down to eighth after this and eventually nursed the kart home to 13th, knowing that the most important thing at this meeting was to finish in the top 24 drivers who would go through to the next round at Braga in Portugal. With 34 drivers on the track, 13th would almost guarantee him entry if he could finish higher than last in the next one.

With everything fixed for the next race and a gearing adjustment to give him more speed coming out of the corners, Robert aimed to make up places and after fighting in midfield for much of the 15-lap race he managed to break away and move up through the rankings. Taking two competitors on the final lap alone, Robert finished seventh, also finishing seventh when the two results were aggregated.

The slate will now be wiped clean for the European Final in Portugal in three weeks and Robert will arrive as the top Irish contender in an unusually strong field drawn from all over Europe.

Robert is racing for PDB Racing on a Gillard this weekend at the European Championships at Alcaniz - so far he has qualified second and won his first heat, narrowly beating Jack Harvey on the last lap.

Robert was in flying form this weekend at the Zuera track, Spain for the second round of the WSK Championship. The teenager from Navan, Co. Meath, who is racing in the KF2 class, has stepped up to become the Maranello Kart factory team leader, ably helped by Euan Jeffries, one of the most experienced kart mechanics on the European Kart racing scene who usually works with four-time World Champion Davide Fore. The stiff competition Butler faced in the highly competitive KF2 class did not faze the youngster at all - the evidence of this was in achieving the lap record for his class at the circuit near Zaragoza.

Robert and his father Gerry were confident about doing well in round 2 and literally couldn’t wait to get to the Spanish circuit, arriving there a week early.

Gerry said “A mix up in the dates ended up with Rob and I being the only two people at the track! The worst thing is I phoned Euan to see where he was and now everyone knows about it!”

A week later the Butlers returned to Spain and Robert fought hard throughout the heats to start 13th in the first final where he set a blistering pace early in the race to stamp his authority on 6th place, and by lap 5 was close behind Maranello team-mate Joel Johansson who was in 5th. However a botched overtaking attempt by the 7th place driver made Butler lose contact with Johansson, a gap Robert couldn’t close before the chequered flag fell, ending the race giving him a very respectable 6th on the starting grid for final 2.

A brilliant start from Butler in Final 2 put him in 4th place at the end of the first lap however the promise shown by his early pace of a possible podium finish was dashed by mechanical gremlins in the Parilla engine’s ignition system thus ending his race prematurely.

“The engine was quick down the straight but it wouldn’t pull me out of the corners and then it just broke,” said Robert.

Another Maranello team-mate, Yannick De Brabander, won both of the KF2 finals making for a successful weekend overall for the team.

Robert will race this weekend in the Italian Championship at Ugento in the southern province of Puglia.

Robert was undeterred by an engine failure at last weekend�s Winter Cup at Lonato in Italy and is aiming high for his first season racing as a Senior in the European Kart Championship. Competing as a member of the Italian Maranello team for the first time was an immediate boost to Robert�s confidence and he is looking forward to learning from his new teammate, multiple World Champion Davide Fore.

A change in the engine formula for 2007 has thrown the competition wide open and every team was in the position of getting to know something new. �The Vortex is more forgiving and my engine, the IAME Parilla, is just as fast but harder to get right,� said Robert. Teething problems are to be expected and Robert�s race was run after a nylon part in the engine melted during the semi-final.

With over seventy entries, 8th and 9th place finishes in his two heats were impressive and gave him a 12th place starting position for his semi-final. Halfway through the 14-lap race, running in the top ten, he suddenly slowed and limped back to the pits with a smoking engine. As only the top half of the field were to qualify for the final there was nothing for Robert to do for the rest of the day but watch fellow Meath karter Gary Thompson race to 20th in the main race.

Robert�s next race will be the Margutti Trophy, again in Italy in two weeks time, and this season he will be doing most of his racing in Italy and France.

Robert’s last season in Junior Kart racing started on a very positive note when he was awarded the Neil Shanahan Memorial Trophy by Motorsport Ireland for his achievements during 2005 - the Irish Junior Championship and 15th in the British Junior Championship. Again racing with Team Simpson International, the Navan driver would be competing in the British and European Championships in 2006 and was to catch the attention of important figures in European racing with his skill and determination.

After some promising results in the British Championship, Robert really came into his own in the European Championship. The qualifying round at Braga, Portugal, pitched him against junior drivers from throughout Western Europe with only the top 27 going through to the final in Belgium. After some engine problems, Robert raced in the finals with his spare engine, which was half a second slower than the best engine. 22nd was a good finish in the circumstances as fractions of a second are critical in karting. In the second final there were serious doubts as to whether the engine would last the distance but he coaxed it home in 20th, giving him an average finishing position inside the top 27.

Team boss Michael Simpson said “He didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend and considering the equipment problems he was a star.”

Following the Portuguese race, Robert switched to the Maranello kart and engines tuned by KVS while staying with Team Simpson. The switch made the world of difference at Mariembourg, Belgium, for the European Final, as he qualified 11th, finished 5th in two heats and won his last heat, holding off 20005 British Champion Will Stevens. His reward was 6th on the grid for the Pre-Final but he knew that to win he would have to rely on the rain that had been threatening all day - an Irish driver is always likely to have an advantage over the southern Europeans in the wet!

Disaster struck at the start of both finals when Robert was pushed down to to the back of the field. In the first final he fought back bravely to 17th, but in the second he ended up half a lap behind every other driver. Many would have given up at this point but Robert reeled in the field, eventually reeling ten of the karts ahead of him and posting fastest lap. His team-mate, Spanish driver Miki Monras, became European Champion, showing what Robert could have done if luck was on his side.

Back in the UK Robert concentrated on the British Championship where he was laying 8th going into the final round at Rowrah in the North of England. After qualifying fastest, a technicality found in scrutineering meant he would be forced to start from the back in all his races. There was no point in racing in the qualifying heats as they would have no bearing on his position in the finals so he started the main races with fresh tyres. In the first final he carved through to finish as the top Irishman in 8th place, but did even better in the second race, finishing 6th. As in Belgium he also posted the fastest lap.

Robert’s last race as a Junior was to be the Monaco Cup, held on a kart track adapted from the famous Grand Prix circuit. Showing the grit that spectators and fellow competitors have come to expect he battled on after injuring his ribs in practice. He scored strong positions in his heats despite the pain from his ribs and then 10th and 6th in the two finals.

“After the accident I tried my best but I had a bit of a mind block where I crashed. 6th wasn’t so bad because of my ribs as from the third or fourth lap I was crying from the pain.”

He now has several months to recover before moving to Seniors for 2007. After impressing everyone this year with the support of Team Simpson, Robert has been offered a space in the factory Maranello team where he will race in both the Italian and European Championships as well as the World Cup for the first time.

Ireland’s Robert Butler made an impression on the karting world at the European Junior Championship on September 3rd, racing at the tough Belgian circuit of Mariembourg. A switch to the Maranello kart and a new engine tuner, KVS, gave Robert the boost he needed to move up to the top level of European Junior drivers, shown by his heat win and fastest lap in the Grand Final.

After qualifying 11th out of 72 drivers in timed practice, Robert finished 5th in his first two heats and then went on to win his final heat on Saturday evening, holding off the European Championship favourite and British Champion Will Stevens. This gave him the starting position of 6th for the Pre-Final on Sunday morning, and as rain was forecast the Northern European drivers were expected to have an advantage over the Italians and Spaniards.

“If it’s wet I can win,” he said, “but if it’s dry I’ll give it my best shot”.

His luck was to run out in the Pre-Final though when his lightning start ended in a clash with Stevens at the first corner. From the very back of the 34-kart field he fought his way back up to 17th which would be his grid position in the main race. There was drizzle throughout the day but not enough to make wet tyres necessary.

In the Grand Final Robert was again pushed to the back on the hectic first lap, this time ending up half a lap behind the rest of the field. In a situation where many people would give up he launched into the drive of his life to catch and then pass the tail of the race. During the 19 laps of the Mariembourg circuit Robert overtook 16 karts, putting in a lap 4 hundredths of a second faster than his team-mate and eventual winner Miquel Monras.

“I’m very happy for Miki (Monras), but it also shows what I could have done if the starts had been cleaner and I hadn’t had to come from so far back.”

Robert’s next outing is the final race of the British Championship at Rowrah in Cumbria this weekend, where he is currently laying 8th in the standings.

Following two 6th places in the first two heats, Robert finished Saturday’s European Championship heats with a flourish by holding off championship favourite Will Stevens to win the final heat.

His switch to the Maranello chassis has paid off and the team now estimate he will be around 7th on the grid for the Pre-Final on Sunday.

The event will be covered on Eurosport 2 tomorrow (Sunday) between 2pm and 3:15pm Belgian time, and you can find full results on the CIK-FIA website.

Robert overcame adversity last weekend (16th July) in the Qualifier for the European Junior Kart Championship to get through to the final round in Belgium in September. The event took place at the Braga circuit in Portugal and featured the top under-15 drivers in the west of Europe, including Irish, British, Spanish and French competitors. Over 80 drivers were entered, competing for just 27 places in the Final and all had to cope with temperatures in the mid-forties.

Robert, who drives a Tonykart for Team Simpson International, had three good finishes in his four heat races, but in the other his engine failed so spectacularly it couldn’t be repaired, leaving him to race in the two main races on his spare.

In the first race, Robert skillfully avoided the inevitable first-corner pileups, only to find his spare engine was 6 tenths of a second slower than the other one. Finishing him 14th would have guaranteed a place in the Final in Belgium but he could only finish 22nd and had to keep pushing in the second race.

The team ran the engine on the stand before the race and didn’t think it would last one lap, but luckily Robert was able to nurse it home to finish 20th - giving him an average finishing position inside the all-important top 27.

Team boss Michael Simpson said of his 14-year-old driver: “He didn’t put a wheel wrong all weekend and considering the equipment problems he was a star.”

Robert will be out next in the British Kart Championship on July 30th.

Robert is competing at Braga, Portugal this weekend for one of 72 places in the European Junior Championship final in Belgium in September. Below is one of the first photos from the first practice day:

Photo from Chris Walker

Robert was forced out of the final of the first Italian Opens round at La Conca after injuring his leg. The top six were:

1. Felix Antonio Da Costa (Spain)
2. Nigel Moore (UK)
3. Mattia Da Cagna (Italy)
4. Scott Jenkins (UK)
5. Will Stevens (UK)
6. Andre Hauke (Germany)