Josh Dufek Karting news updates 2015

NEWS 2015

Winter Training | Italy | 27 December 2015

Joshua flying during winter training at La Conca (Italy) beating this year’s pole position winning time of the WSK (World Series of Karting)!

Ampfing | Germany | 19-20 September 2015

Joshua has won everything up to the final consistently being the quickest pilot all weekend long (including Friday’s & Saturday’s training session). On Sunday, he wins the official training, the qualifying and both race1 and race2 – see here for race summary Ampfing SKM | Qualification through to Race 2 | 2015 09 20

Having closed the gap to Mike Müller in points (both 289 going into the final), Joshua just has to finish one more time ahead of Mike. Starting from pole position for the third time today, Joshua is fighting with Mike for first place, when he gets smashed off the track in curve 4/5 from behind from another driver (kart no 2, who receives a 10sec penalty for smashing Josh off). With a few laps remaining Joshua re-joins last with half a lap behind. Despite knowing that he has lost the title race, he pushes his kart back on the track, re-finds his rhythm straight away and drives the last 5 laps in his usual fast and regular fashion – see here for race summary Ampfing SKM | Final Race | 2015 09 20

Joshua finishes as the runner-up champion of the 2015 Swiss championship. Everyone, the team & family very proud of Joshua who stayed calm, very focused and drove impeccable all weekend long. After a few initial tears the first 30 seconds when exiting his kart, Joshua’s first words: “We have given 100% and that’s all we can do. We will come back even stronger to lift the title next year”

Up to this point, Joshua has shown an impeccable performance putting him in the perfect position to lift the 2015 Swiss Championship title in the Supermini category. He has won the official training, the qualifying, both races 1&2 and started 3 times from pole position including the final race. Please see below as Joshua gets smashed off the track from behind, getting his 2ndSwiss championship title ambitions destroyed (from kart no 2, who receives a 10sec penalty for smashing Josh off)

Preview: Final countdown… Josh racing for his second “Swiss Championship Title” in Ampfing (Germany) next week 19/20 September. We will keep you posted…

Levier | France | 9 August 2015

“What a Race Performance – Josh Dufek the Rain King! Josh strikes back winning the triple – that is all 3 races in wet conditions on slicks (no rain tires allowed)! Incredible driving – very regular and fast (fastest lap in Race 2 and Final)!! Having taken 70 points plus 3 points for the fastest lap in the final, Josh is back in 2nd place fighting for the championship title in the final race in Ampfing Germany on 20 September. Mike Müller, 2 years older than Josh and currently in first place with a small point lead, is the same driver that Joshua already beat in 2013 to lift the Swiss Championship title in the Mini category.”

Race 1: The track is drenched, the rain is pouring, conditions terrible… Joshua starts at 3rd place from the qualifying. Joshua moves to 2nd, there is a final battle and Joshua flies through the finish in 1st place.

Race 2: Conditions remain difficult. Very wet, the rain continues to pour down. All superminis racing in slicks. Joshua takes the lead and remains ahead throughout the whole race. He makes the fastest time of the race and wins 10.3 seconds ahead of the kart in second place.

The Final Race: Joshua tore up the track, again with the fastest time and super regular driving; especially when the pressure was mounting in the middle of the race from behind (see below lap 6 (1:07.947), lap 7 (1:07.909) and lap 8 (1:07.961). He is the only driver, that manages to go below the 1:08 time handle. Faultless driving, finishing 11.7 seconds in front of his teammate and lapping others, giving him his third thrashing win of the day!!!!

See final race summary here Levier SKM Final Race 2015 08 09

Josh meets Rio in Greece

July 2015

“Joshua Dufek & Luke Dufek with Man United legend Rio Ferdinand. Joshua and his brother Luke very proud to have bumped into Rio and have a picture taken whilst holidaying in Greece.”

Vesoul | France | 5 July 2015

“Joshua second quickest in both official training and qualifying. Finishes only 5th in first races but fights back in Race 2 to finish 2nd.

In the final, Joshua is running in 3rd place putting pressure on the kart in 2nd place. Duelling for 2nd place he gets pushed off the track losing 5 places in the process.

With 4 laps to go, he fights back from 8th place finishing 4th. With a little more luck, he could have quite easily finished 2nd or even won the race.”

See the final race below…

Mirecourt | race day news | 14 June 2015

Josh is treated to a new racing suit after his super win in Wohlen. Sadly he had technical issues in Mirecourt which interfered with his times…Although he fought back to 2nd place in the final, he was not able to complete the race due to a technical issue that forced Josh to retire his kart a few laps from the finishing line.

Wohlen | race day news | 25 May 2015

Joshua has a fantastic win at Wohlen and finishes first.

Watch the final race video here…

Laghi Castelletto in Italy on 10 April 2015.

By the final race Josh gets off to a great start by gaining 3 places. Running in 3rd position after the start, Josh gets pushed off the track. Joshua re-joins the field in last position but fighting back strongly. He regains 10 places finishing the race in 8th position.

Summary of 2013 and 2014 seasons

After winning both the Swiss Championship and the Vega Trofeo (category Mini) in 2013, last year proofed to be rather complicated with a number of mechanical issues.

The last race of the 2014 Swiss Championship summarizes perfectly how the 2014 season in the Super-mini category went:

After finishing 3rd in both Race1 & Race2, Josh was fighting for 2ndplace in the final when the fuel hose came loose in lap 6 forcing Josh to retire his kart on the track whilst watching the others finishing the race. See video above.