DEKM starts on the venerable Erftlandring – DTM Driver Ferdinand von Habsburg starts in VIP-Kart
After a nine-week break, the season of the German Electric Kart Championship is going to continue (12. – 14. July). 14 young drivers from seven nations are going to start into the next ranked races on the Erftlandring in Kerpen. The championship is currently being led by Berlin resident Luka Wlömer. Austrian DTM-driver Ferdinand von Habsburg starts as a popular guest driver.
The DEKM-kick-off at the Prokart Raceland in Wackersdorf had a lot to offer for drivers and viewers. The field was very closely together during the four races and highlighted the high power density of the Rotax THUNDeR E-Karts. There were numerous changes of the lead and several decisions that were only made on the home stretch. The final victories were shared by German Luka Wlömer and Lin Chen Han from Taiwan. “The weekend was really intense and a lot of fun. I had to be fully concentrated all the time due to the close distances and I couldn’t make any mistakes”, the leading driver Luka Wlömer explains.
Venerable track in the Erftland
With the race in Kerpen, the DEKM takes place on a venerable track. On the 1.107m long track, the careers of numerous motorsports giants began. The most well-known are the Formula 1 record World Champion Michael Schumacher and the four-time Champion Sebastian Vettel. The German FIA Formula-E-drivers André Lotterer, Daniel Abt, Maximilian Günther and Pascal Wehrlein also gained their first experiences on the race track in the Erftland.
DTM-driver Ferdinand von Habsburg breathes E-kart-air
With Ferdinand von Habsburg, a current DTM-driver takes a seat in a VIP-kart of the DEKM. The driver from Austría starts at the DTM for R-Motorsport and drove numerous races in different Rotax-classes throughout his kart racing times. In 2014, he was the winner of the Austrian Championship in the Rotax DD2. In Kerpen he is now going against the competition in the German Electric Kart Championship and is excitedly looking forward to his mini-comeback: “It is great news for me to be going back to the roots of where my passion for racing all kicked off and also to know that karting is progressing with the changing world. Having been involved with the THUNDeR eKart project since it’s launch in Austria in 2017, I’m proud to be supporting the concept. Electric Karting isn’t the mainstream yet, but Rotax continues to make it happen and become more exciting than ever. I’m really looking forward to being part of the DEKM event in Germany and cannot wait for the wheel-to-wheel racing with these young up-and-coming drivers of the future. To be invited to Kerpen and be able to experience this competition first hand is going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully, this gives me some good training for my DTM season too. Now, I can’t wait for my first practice session back in a kart!”
Next to him, Nico Hantke and Ohad Shirky from Israel will also start as guest drivers. A double burden awaits local driver Hantke: In addition to his start at the DEKM, he also competes in the German Kart Championship.