A successful end to the European season and a busy autumn

Marcus Amand, the 2015 Minikart French champion, won a prestigious international title at the end of 2017, the Rotax Grand Final, against a field of drivers from 30 countries. This year he moved up to the OK Junior category (12-14 years old), which opens the door to the official European and World Championships run by the CIK-FIA International Federation. His European campaign ended at the beginning of August in Essay/Aunay-les-Bois in Normandy, and at his home event Marcus achieved his best result of the season and scored his first points in the championship. The coming weeks will be pretty busy with the return to school at the FFSA Academy in Le Mans and the qualifying event for the Rotax Grand Final in Laval followed by the world championship in Sweden.

A new world

Marcus Amand is tackling this new stage in his young career as a driver with the KR Motorsports team (Kart Republic) and the chassis of the same name, launched last winter by Dino Chiesa. The Italian is well known for having helped Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to success at the turn of the millennium. Despite the enormous efforts he has made in terms of physical fitness training Marcus is still not one of the tallest drivers in the field and he has had to cope with 30 kilos’ ballast on his kart to meet the minimum weight. This factor and his status as a rookie who has to build up his experience didn’t make things easy for him early on in the season. But in a European Championship comprising four rounds with an average field of 74 starters he was able to up his game. Except for the opening event in Italy he was among the 34 finalists in each round.

In France, for the first time this season, the Franco-Finnish young gun was coached by Bertrand Péchon the man in charge of the PB Kart team that helped Marcus to score his victories in the Mini and Cadet categories. He started by setting the 17^th time in qualifying on the Essay/Aunay-les-Bois circuit despite traffic problems. This put him on the third row of the grid for the qualifying heats but, four times out of five on the outside line, which penalised him heavily on this circuit. As a result of his big effort in the qualifying heats, Marcus clinched 22^nd spot on the grid for the final, which he transformed into an 11^th-place finish at the end of the longest and most difficult race of the weekend. He also finished in front of the other five KR drivers.

Back to school and to racing

Marcus won’t have time to be bored in the coming weeks. He’s gone back to school and thanks to the help of Christophe Lollier, the French Motorsport governing body’s National Technical Director, and Olivier Strubel, the man in charge of pedagogy at Le Mans, he will be able to continue his studies in the FFSA Academy. His timetable will be specially arranged to take into account the constraints of his racing calendar. This includes three days’ testing at Kristianstad on 7-8-9 September to prepare for the OK Junior World Championship two weeks later. Between his two stays in Sweden Marcus will race in the Rotax Challenge France Final in Laval hoping to gain a place for the Grand Final that’s taking place in Brazil from 24 November to 1 December this year! In a race that took place in Laval in preparation for the event last weekend, Marcus set pole and won!

Marcus Amand driver bio :

Franco-Finnish, born 5 February 2006 in Oulu (Finland). Marcus lives near Saint-Jean d’Angely and studies in Le Mans (France). He is Fluent in French, Finnish and English.

2013: Mini Kart class (France, Rotax Micro Max engine), 3^rd in the Rotax Challenge France Final.

2014: Mini Kart class (France, Rotax Micro Max engine), Le Mans 24 Minutes winner. Rotax Challenge France Final winner.

2015 : Mini Kart class (France, Rotax Micro Max engine), FFSA French Champion (pole position). FFSA French Cup winner. Le Mans 24 Minutes winner (pole position). Kart mag Trophy winner (pole position). Minime class debut at the end of the season (France, Rotax Mini Max engine with restrictor), 8^th in the FFSA French Championship.

2016: Minime class (France, Rotax Mini Max engine with restrictor), 7^th in the FFSA French Cup. Stars of Karting series Champion (4 races, 4 podium finishes including 1 victory). Runner-up in the National Series Karting (3 races, 1 victory, 1 pole position). 2^nd in the Rotax Challenge France Final (pole position). Mini Max class (UAE), 2^nd in the Dubai O-Plate race.

Youngest member of the French Federation of Motorsport’s 10-15 Programme (young driver detection and training).

2017: 60 Mini class (Italy), WSK Champions Cup & Super Master Series finalist. 8^th out of 59 in the Andrea Margutti Trophy. Cadet class (France, Rotax Mini Max engine), 3^rd in the FFSA French Championship. Stars of Karting series Champion (3 races, 3 wins, 2 pole positions). Rotax Challenge France Final winner (pole position). National Series Karting champion (3 races, 3 wins, 3 pole positions). Mini Max class (international), Rotax Grand Final winner (Portimao, Portugal).

2018: OK Junior class (International), 6^th in the WSK Open Cup. CIK/FIA European Championship, personal best: 11^th in Essay/Aunay-les-Bois.

Blog in English and French: www.marcus-amand.com