A morning of wet racing followed by a drying track has shuffled the packs in the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship as drivers adapted to the changing conditions at the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero today.
Both the OK and Junior polesitters got into early difficulty this morning, with Baglin facing a disqualification setback and Venant struggling throughout his heats. Drivers with early experience in the wet conditions flourished, with British drivers Will Green, Joe Turney and Zac Drummond all gaining the most today.
Meanwhile, in the Academy Trophy, polesitter Genolet faced a challenging day of running with Maximov and Motoda impressing the most to make tomorrow’s final heats crucial with an open field.
The final heats and super heats tomorrow morning will prove decisive following such a changeable day in the provisional standings, as the outlook looks positive for another thrilling finals day in the European Championship.
OK
Noah Baglin headed into Saturday with a perfect start to defend. During his first heat, he initially pulled away from the pack in the wet conditions with ease. Two laps in, Pesl challenged Baglin for the lead, but contact in the wet conditions ended up spinning the Czech driver to end his heat.
Baglin was later disqualified from the heat, denting his chances this weekend, but he went on to dominate his second and third heats from lights out to chequered flag with Schaufler finishing 0.6 seconds behind in his second heat, and Aaron Garcia Lopez only able to close the gap to the World Champion to 1.3 seconds during his final heat of the day.
Heat A-D continued to provide the biggest drama of the day as Baglin’s teammate Joe Turney picked up the spoils to lead the heat, with a chasing Dean Hoogendorn surging behind to collect important points. The reigning junior European Champion, however, suffered a mechanical failure and DNF in his second heat to leave a lot of work for the Dutch driver to do in tomorrow’s super heats.
Turney turned up the heat in the afternoon with a drying track suiting the experienced driver who raced to victory in his second heat from a seventh position start. FIA Karting Rookie of the Year James Anagnostiadis similarly enjoyed the changing conditions as he gained 10 spots.
Zac Drummond put into practice his experience racing in Scotland with his mastering of the wet track, gaining seven places in his first race to take the heat win and six spots in his second to challenge for the lead. By his third heat, Drummond was unstoppable, banking early overtakes to challenge Davide Bottaro during a last-lap rack battle which provided some of the best racing of the day. Drummond ends the day in seventh position after qualifying in 23rd yesterday.
Niklas Schaufler picked up a front-fairing penalty during his first heat, but his second-place finishes behind Baglin and Turney has left him on a healthy points haul and level with Turney on 220 points in first position on the provisional classification.
Elsewhere across the grids, Zülfikari had a better start to his day to hold on to his lead in his first heat after suffering a series of setbacks yesterday evening, only to lose out in his second heat to Calleja and Drummond, who impressed to take the top two positions in the heat. Zülfikari’s final heat saw him tumble down the orders with Garcia Lopez and Calleja benefiting the most.
The provisional OK classification after Saturday’s heats is as follows:
Niklas Schaufler (AUT, DPK Racing) 220 points
Joe Turney (GBR, KR) 220 points
Davide Bottaro (ITA, Lenovo Kali Kart Team) 209 points
Noah Baglin (GBR, KR) 205 points
Dan Allemann (SUI, VDK Racing) 203 points
OK Junior
Polesitter Venant faced a difficult day, losing 12 places across his three heats with Oskari Walle overtaking the young Belgian in each of their heats this weekend. Walle found himself in a thrilling track battle with Julian Frasnelli, who ultimately got the better of the Finnish driver during a heat won by Lucas Palacio.
Both Frasnelli and Girardello went on to consistently hold position to pick up points throughout the day, demonstrating a calmness and adaptability that served them well as junior drivers responding to the conditions.
With so many spins in the wet this morning, large position gains were not uncommon, with Martin Bertolaccini gaining 22 places, Ava Jean Lawrence gaining 21, and Michele Orlando 16 places in individual heats over the day.
Drivers couldn’t, however, get close to a storming Will Green this morning, who built up a considerable lead out front, crossing the line over 10 seconds clear of Many Nuvolini, who had been tussling with Mohammed El Bouzakhi for second place and continued his strong run of heats.
During his final heat, Green initially lost his lead to Stepan Mazepin but regained position during a closely fought race that Bobreshov and Nuvolini also gained from. Green ends the day atop the standings with a 21-point advantage over Walle. Miron Lorente defended expertly across the 19-corner circuit on home soil to keep himself in healthy contention and ends the day in 5th position with 205 points in the provisional standings. Albert Tamm faced a mixed set of results, leaving him on 183 points and hoping to make up ground.
The provisional Junior classification after Saturday’s heats is as follows:
Will Green (GBR, KR) 244 points
Oskari Walle (FIN, Parolin Motorsport) 223 points
Gioele Girardello (ITA, Parolin Motorsport) 219 points
Many Nuvolini (FRA, KR) 206 points
Daniel Miron Lorente (ESP, Fusion Motorsport) 205 points
Academy Senior
This morning’s heats began as the drizzle started to fall, with drivers opting for wet tyres from the start. Genolet defended his pole position well during his morning run, keeping his kart ahead with a 6-second lead and best lap time to put him in prime position this weekend. Albie Lapper and Oliver Kurg held their advantages, with Marcella Assumpçao losing most ground, dropping 16 spots to the back of the grid.
During the second morning heat, Simba Motoda went into the lead, building a considerable gap that, unfortunately for the Japanese driver, was 0.041 seconds short to compensate for the 5-second front fairing penalty he was handed. Boaz Maximov went on to take the chequered flag in the heat to pick up 50 points, and Derek Wargo from the United States was the other beneficiary of the morning’s heats to pick up 3 places and cross the line in sixth position.
This afternoon, the Academy Senior drivers headed out again for their second and final set of heats today. Motoda continued his campaign in the afternoon, leaping six places, including over Genolet, to finish just over a second behind heat winner Oliver Kurg, who excelled today. Jan Rodrigues from Portugal also performed well to gain 10 positions, as did Maximilliano Gobbi, who gained 12 places.
Boaz Maximov, however, delivered the standout performance of the day with a second heat win, 6.6 seconds ahead of Albie Lapper to take maximum points despite a 5-second front fairing penalty. Maximov and Carr raced closely in the opening stages of their afternoon heat, with the Australian driver running in third position until later contact with Armand Hamilton, which knocked him down the standings.
Vanesa Silkunaite battled behind to end the day in a respectable ninth position on the table, whilst Sarp Kayol also benefited from the heat drama.
After today’s heats the provisional classification for Academy Senior is as follows:
Boaz Maximov (Netherlands)100 points
Oliver Kurg (Estonia) 91points
Alexis Genolet (Switzerland) 88 points)
Albert Lapper (United Kingdom) 88 points
Simba Motoda (Japan) 88 points
Action resumes in Valencia tomorrow morning as the super heats complete the grids for the OK and Junior categories and final two heats determine the Academy Senior grid. All the racing will be LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube channel from 10:00 CET.