Young Goulburn local Costa Toparis recently returned from Brazil, where he competed in the Rotax Kart Mini Max Grand Finals which were held from November 24 to December 1 and secured a fifth place finish.
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Having dominated the Australian series, Costa was expected to be a strong contender in the grand finals and, despite a slow start, his father Con Toparis said that the 11-year-old learned and improved exceptionally quickly.
“Costa prepared really well and worked hard and won the national championship fairly convincingly,” Toparis said.
“He had to learn fairly quickly over there, but he was just fantastic. He rose to the occasion. It was hard, he raced for six days in a row in 28 to 30 degrees.”
36 drivers competed in the Mini Max division in Brazil, and from a starting position of ninth in the final race, he climbed higher in the positions to finish only 1.9 seconds behind Farin Megger of Germany, who finished in first place.
To make Costa’s achievement all the more remarkable, he is on average two years younger than many of his competitors, and Toparis is sure that his son will be even more competitive should he earn the opportunity to compete in the next grand finals series in 2019, which is set to take place in Italy.
Working in Costa’s favour is his sheer pace. Although he took some time to work his way into form, he was consistently among the quickest drivers and even set the track record for the quickest lap of the competition, with a lap of 56.239.
“Costa had the speed and the pace to win, [but he] lacked slightly in international driving experience,” Toparis said.
Whatever Costa lacked in experience, Toparis is sure that he will make up for in work ethic and commitment, and he said that he was “so proud of the way [Costa] conducted himself” in Brazil.
“We go racing around Australia, and we go there to provide Costa the best opportunity, and he pays us back, he puts in everything,” Toparis said.
“Racing at that level … it’s a very, very professional level, and Costa showed the world that he belonged, and it was wonderful. We were very proud as parents.”
The atmosphere alone will have provided a valuable learning experience for Costa, and Toparis said that it was one of the purest exhibitions of competition that he has ever seen.
“It was genuinely competed at the highest level,” he said.
“I’ve played sports at quite reasonable levels, not as high as Costa, but I’ve never experienced such pure competition and pure racing, it was wonderful.
“It was genuinely a world final.”
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