Kiern Jewiss headed to South Garda, Italy, for the 22^nd annual Winter Cup last weekend where he battled admirably to come away with a handful of top-10 results.
The week started brightly for the 14-year-old as he delivered a number of excellent performances in the Thursday practice sessions despite the weekend being only his second appearance in the OK class since the step up from the OK-Junior class. Kiern ended the first day of driving with four top-10 finishes, including two 4^th placed positions.

Jewiss continued his strong showing through to the Friday where the first session of the day saw Kiern finish third in the warm up prior to the day’s first Qualifying Heats. Qualifying Practice saw uncharacteristic pace from the Kent based driver and the team. His time of 47.782 meant he would start the first Qualifying Heat of the weekend down in 13^th place, already on the back foot. After making changes to the kart, Kiern bounced back from his disappointing qualifying result and overtook several drivers on his way to crossing the line in 6^th place!

On Saturday, Kiern again started down in 13^th for the remaining two Qualifying Heats and would need his overtaking qualities more than ever if he was to secure a place in the Super Heat. In the day’s first heat, Kiern battled past six drivers and displayed his natural overtaking ability to cross the line in 7^th place. The day’s last Qualifying Heat saw Kiern make a great start and hold on to finish the race in 9^th place and secure a fifth row start in Sunday’s Super Heat.

Battling against the world’s best drivers, Kiern knew he would have a difficult task on his hands when he lined up 6^th for his Super Heat. A tough race saw lots of on-track battles and although the pace wasn’t great for Kiern, he still fought hard to come home with a 7^th place finish and secure his spot in the final.

After losing 23 drivers throughout the weekend, the top-34 drivers lined up on the grid for the Sunday’s final. Starting in 10^th place, Kiern made a good start and found himself up in 9^th position and in a close race with four other drivers. The group of drivers traded positions and when the chequered flag dropped, Kiern crossed the line in 9^th place. However, upon scrutineering, it was found that Kiern’s bumper had dropped and therefore the officials handed him a 10-second time penalty – which ultimately demoted him down to 17^th place.

Kiern remained positive despite an unfortunate ending to his weekend in Italy.

“It was a positive weekend from a personal perspective. I’m happy with my performance on the track but ultimately we didn’t have the pace to compete with the leaders. In testing we were fast and things were shaping up for a good weekend but unfortunately we didn’t have the pace in the races and we need to understand why.”