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SOSNOVA TURNS ON A SPECTACULAR
WEEKEND OF EURO RACING
Round 3 of the Rotax Euro Challenge has
been run and won for the first time in the Czech Republic
over the weekend, following the introduction of the new
venue into the series and has been praised by competitors
as a fantastic event. The Autodrom Ceská Lípa,
Sosnova proved to be an ideal location for the international
championship, with 160 drivers and their teams enjoying
what was described as a definite winner by the organisers
RGMMC Establishment. The racing was fast and very competitive.
Adding to the summer spirit and welcoming the new hosts,
RGMMC also threw a huge Grill Party Friday for all the
competitors and their guests with lots of local tasty
delights, some good wine and music.
Senior Max
Defending European champion Ben Cooper (44.519) set the
quickest lap in the final group in the class of 76 drivers.
He was fast in both the wet and dry sessions in the two
days leading up to official timed practice, edging out
the current series leader Chris Lock by 2-tenths. “I
am happy to be on pole; the kart feels really, really
good and it’s fast. I thought I could take pole
and hopefully it gives me the results in the racing that
I need for the points in the championship. It’s
going to be close.”
The polesitter was unbeatable in all
four of his qualifying heats Saturday, giving him P1on
the grid for the pre-final. Lining up with Cooper on the
front row was Lock, who’d won three heats, including
one when New Zealand’s Josh Hart received a 10-second
start penalty, reducing his own tally to two race wins.
The remaining heat was won by Tom Fawcett. The best lap
in the heats was again set by Cooper.
Unlike the previous round in Germany,
the senior pre-final was without major incident or even
as much as a driving standards flag being shown. Cooper
took the lead and held it for the entire 15 laps, also
clocking the best overall lap (44.341) of the meeting
to win the race by just over three seconds. Minor places
changed behind him, as the frontrunners diced frantically,
but in the process let the young Brit get away. Lock kept
a considerable gap over eventual third-placed driver Luke
Caudle, who passed Fawcett when he ran wide several laps
into the race. 4th was claimed by Joey Van Splunteren,
as Hart dropped out of contention in the early stages.
The Final had a little more action, which
could have been expected with the series able to be won
at the Czech round. The start went with Cooper once more
as Lock was unable to move inside on the first corner
and found himself back in 3rd chasing Caudle. James Bean
off grid 9 had a coming together with Fawcett in 5th,
who had slowed as he continued to circulate on track,
until suddenly being hit by another kart. He sustained
a wrist injury so officials signalled a full restart,
however Bean was later handed a fine for his part in the
initial incident. There was a slight delay before the
final got underway once more.
The start went Coopers’ but way
Lock took a different line and slotted into 2nd ahead
of Caudle and Hart. On lap 3, he had a shot at the lead
and it was Cooper on his rear bumper for the first time
over the weekend. Bean had pushed his way through into
the top 5 as the laps unfolded, making the fight for 3rd
and beyond a close one, heading a reasonably bunched field.
Just over halfway and Bean looks to pass Caudle for a
place on the podium but he holds his line. Eventually
Bean steals 3rd, followed shortly after by Van Splunteren
and Hart passing Caudle as well, who didn’t have
their pace in the final.
With only minutes remaining, Cooper set
his fastest lap as he moved up on Lock, who kept glancing
over his shoulder and consequently also then did his best
time just two laps from the end. It was a case of one
covering and one taking the shortest way around the track.
Cooper pushed hard as they approached the finish line,
but it was Lock’s victory for the second round in
a row. His hope of sealing the championship on the day
disappeared, but the 21-year old still maintains a narrow
lead over Cooper in the points going into the series decider
in Belgium this September.
Junior Max
The current junior Rotax World number one was the driver
to beat from the beginning of official timed practice
in Junior Max. Kevin Korjus was on the track early in
his qualifying session Friday and immediately followed
with his fastest time (45.802) on the next lap. “In
the last free practice session this morning I was fastest,
even though some of the drivers had new tyres so I was
sure I could be pole. I hope that I can do better in the
racing now to find a consistently good time. There’s
still room for me to improve my driving skill here and
the kart set-up some more.”
It was Toni Alarcon who would take pole
position for the pre-final following the qualifying heats
Saturday, although he was the winner in only one race,
he had two 2nd places and enough points. Simone Favaro
would join the Spanish driver on P2, with two wins. Korjus
also won two from three of his races, but made a mistake
while leading the third and finished further down the
order, so he would start from grid 7. Looking to repeat
his round 1 victory in France, Axcil
Jefferies took race honours in one heat
with a 2nd place, however a DNF in the opening heat ended
his chances of a better pre-final start position.
Sunday’s pre-final began with a
great battle in the opening laps. Jefferies
connected with another kart on the start/finish straight
during the formation lap, luckily regaining his position
before the race began. As the lights turned green, polesitter
Alarcon led from Eduardo Moreira but was overcome on lap
two by the second round winner Ryuuya Fujie. It almost
appeared as if Fujie coming from row three would run away
with the race, before Korjus cut in to assume the lead
on the fifth lap. He was the only driver under the 46-second
mark until the closing stages of the race and set the
best lap. Fellow Estonian Raigo Jegorov was warned by
officials after the start to watch his driving style,
which he did to hold onto 3rd ahead of Russia’s
Artem Markelov, who’d passed Alarcon through the
tricky chicane. Korjus extended his lead over Fujie to
3.7 seconds by the race end.
The temperature had risen to low 30s
by the afternoon, so the 14-lap final was going to be
a long race on the 1075m Autodrom circuit. Korjus was
quick to take the lead as Fujie tailed. Having saved his
new tyres for the final, Alarcon was picking up speed
and making strong ground with each lap. At half race distance
he took first, leaving Korjus to work hard so as to keep
2nd from Fujie. The Japanese driver was really pushing
to make every attempt to catch him. The battle for top
10 positions turned on some excellent racing, as Aavo
Talvar, Sean Frost and Josh Webster diced behind the first
five karts, staying ahead of some of the drivers who were
frontrunners in the heat races.
Alarcon broke into the 45 seconds laptime,
unlike any of the other juniors in the final and took
the chequered flag. He’d been quick at both the
previous rounds this year but always suffered some bad
luck when it came to the finals. The gap to Korjus was
1.5, as Fujie still tried to gain 2nd across the line.
Jegorov was a close 4th then Markelov 5th. Last year’s
Genk winner Korjus now sits at the top of the series points
alone, after team-mate Peter Hoevenaars who was sharing
the championship lead could only manage a 10th. The title
is still up for grabs in the final round at Genk, so it
will be great racing.
Rotax Max Masters
With local knowledge on his side, Radim Feber set out
to be the Max Masters’ fastest qualifier (45.448)
and achieved his first objective for the meeting over
former World and Euro champion Cristiano
Morgado. “Many of the people following
the Euro Challenge in the Czech Republic expected me to
do well at this round seeing that I am very familiar with
the circuit, so this added extra pressure to perform.
I believe we can win this round and for me and my team,
it’s important.”
The Masters pre-final didn’t go
the local favourite’s way however, as he was met
with a challenge by Morgado.
This is where the racecraft experience shows in the 27years+
class, that often provides some pretty intense duals in
the series. At each round it’s been a different
winner who’s claimed the prize. In the early laps,
the polesitter was relegated to 2nd and Morgado
then also set the best lap of the session at half-race
distance. Starting from grid 3, round 2 winner Jerome
Bourquard was sitting in 3rd.
Defending Masters’ champ and current
World number one Colin Davis was leading the chase followed
closely by John Van Wyk
and Werner Henz, who were evenly matched
in time and eventually pulled a gap from the next group.
Only three laps remaining and Feber moved up to sit on
the rear bumper of Morgado’s
kart, going for the lead on the last lap but immediately
losing it as quickly. Morgado
won the race by a narrow margin to Feber, to Davis. Bourquard
had a disappointing finish to come in ROF.
After Morgado’s
withdrawal from the finals at the prior round in Wackersdorf
due to an accident in the DD2 class, he was planning to
make amends for missing out on the points for the championship.
He took the led through the first corner in the final,
with Davis and Feber in 2nd and 3rd; who had also both
opted to save their new MOJO tyres for the last race.
A lap later it was Feber in 2nd as Van
Wyk, Mark Thompson and Bourquard came
into the picture. With nothing between the first three,
Feber grabbed the lead from Morgado
– bringing a cheer from his many fans in the impressive
undercover grandstands. He increased the gap and on lap
5 clocked a flying lap that almost saw him break into
the 44-second times.
Davis still 3rd started to apply some
pressure to Morgado,
with Bourquard driving his way to 4th from the back and
Milan Mach up to 5th. The Czech flags began waving in
the crowd for Feber on every lap as the race drew to a
close, with Morgado
in sight but not able to wear down the leader after he’d
broken free of Davis. It was a jubilant 36-year old that
crossed the finish line, punching the air then bowing
his head as he passed by the applauding spectators. It
was Feber’s best personal result since he began
Karting in the Czech Republic at 13 years of age. In 4th
place, Bourquard revived his championship hopes but with
Davis at the top, it now all hangs on the last round,
as it did the year before. British driver Mach took 5th.
Rotax DD2
Denis Thum and Carsten Muller were the two German drivers
who set the best lap in their groups of their official
timed practice session in the 2-speed DD2 class. It was
Thum however who narrowly secured the top of the leader
board (44.474) guaranteeing him P1 for each of the following
three heats. “I was quick for both days practice
and should be able to win. This is the first time I’ve
been to this track and I like it; the kart is going really
good and I’m fast. It’s important that I get
the most points for the championship at this round and
I’m really focused on that.”
Each of his qualifying races went all
Thum’s way, getting a good start and maintaining
the lead. Like Cooper in Senior Max, he cruised through
to P1 for the Pre-final Sunday. To many people’s
surprise, Poulter
had only qualified 5th, so he was on the front row with
Thum in all three of these heats and every time finished
2nd. Muller took the win in one heat and with his other
results, would start next to Thum in the first of the
finals. The other races went to former Euro DD2 driver
Toms Bobrovskis and James
Ryan from the strong South African line-up.
In a brilliant move, Muller took the
lead from Thum at the start of the pre-final, but was
unable to keep it. Poulter
followed Thum through as he overtook the early leader.
The “slow” boards and waving yellow flags
were brought out after Robert Gilmour hit the tyre barrier
on the next lap, bringing the field into single file.
Several laps later they were back to normal racing pace
and the two frontrunners broke away from the others, as
Bobrovskis and Ryan pursued their own fight for 4th a
short distance behind Muller. Dominik Kraihamer in 6th
place was slightly faster than the three in front of him
but found no opportunity to pass. Thum took a comfortable
1st ahead of Poulter,
then Muller 3rd. A technical infringement saw Bobrovskis
excluded, therefore giving Kraihamer 5th ahead of Ryan.
In a virtual replay of the final from
round 2, Thum led from the lights shadowed by Poulter
and Kraihamer, in what was a much closer race at the front
than the morning final. Muller was under siege from 16-year
old Ian Young who had upstaged his fellow countryman Poulter
by qualifying 3rd Friday, together with Poland’s
Seweryn Szczepanik right behind the leading trio. Poulter
was all over Thum and on the third lap snatched the lead,
just to have Thum try to regain it but couldn’t.
Kraihamer dropped off the two in front, while the drivers
behind him looking for minor places shuffled. Muller retired
unable to continue, while Patrick Pearce and Dennis Ladefoged
had made their way through to threaten Young in 4th.
It was nose-to-tail, single file racing
for most of the remaining laps to the back of the field
and no room for error, though the positions for the top
10 alternated constantly. At the front Poulter
held Thum out by half a second when the 17 laps had expired,
to be the only driver to secure the 2008 European title
at the Sosnova event. Thum was clearly pleased to have
finished right behind him and later admitted he just couldn’t
run him down. 3rd place gave Kraihamer his second podium
in as many rounds, then came Young and Danish champ Ladefoged
5th.
Winning Driver Quotes:
Senior Max – Chris Lock
“I’m pleased to have won the third round in
the Czech Republic as I’m now in a great position
for the championship going into the final round. We’ll
be doing as much testing as we can fit in to ensure we’re
prepared to win in Genk. In the final I just went out
to drive a consistent race, knowing how fast Ben Cooper
had been all weekend and try to get close to him in the
early laps. The red flag helped me and the restart was
better.”
“It was a hard race and I knew I had to pass Cooper
early and took a late move into turn one, then just concentrated
on pushing. I always knew how close Ben was and that I
had the speed in the right areas to stop him overtaking
me as long as I made no mistakes. It seemed a long race
and I was relieved to go over the line for the win. I’m
fairly pleased with my results in the first year in the
series as I’ve been in the top two in every final
except one. I’d like to thank all at RL Race Team
for their support, the team at Ogden for great engines,
support from Strawberry Racing for Tony Kart and Tillet
Racing seats.”
Junior Max – Toni Alarcon
“It was a very good race for me.
I started 5th with new tyres and moved into 4th. I was
very fast and soon got passed 3rd and 2nd place but then
had to try to overtake [Kevin] Korjus. I got him but it
was difficult to pass him because he is a very good driver
and knows how to drive the corners well. I thought that
I could win in the final because everything was right.
The Sodi Kart was excellent! Many thanks to Mira Motorsport
and my mechanic, Balearia and Sodi.”
Rotax Max Masters – Radim Feber
“It was great to win and what we planned coming
into the meeting, we’re satisfied with today. We
ran the old tyres in the pre-final after scrubbing them-in
in the morning warm-up and were happy with 2nd. It was
our race tactic to have an advantage for the final. To
win on our home track helps promote us even more in the
Czech Republic .Having my own team, I came to the Euro
Challenge to see what we needed to do to be competitive
in the championship, so that next year we are able to
bring drivers who want to race internationally. The series
is very well organised and now people will better recognise
the Euro Challenge here as a great event. I’ve really
tried to give 100% in the championship to get the best
out of it myself personally. It was hard for us in Wackersdorf
because we had some other problems that we’ve now
sorted out plus it was a new circuit I’d never raced
on before, where here is my home track.”
Rotax DD2 –
Leeroy Poulter
“Regarding the race meeting, I
think it ended well. Denis was very quick this weekend
and I knew if I was 2nd that we were still good for the
championship. We decided to use the old tyres for the
pre-final which was the best move. In the final I came
into 2nd in the first corner and realised we had the pace
to win. Denis seemed a bit slower in the pre-final so
I was confident that we had the chance. We ran some new
chassis’ this weekend that Birel developed and it
took us a while to get used to them. Now I have qualified
for the Rotax Grand Finals in La Conca, we’ll actually
race there in Italy at the KF2 World Cup the week before
the last round of the Euro Challenge in Genk. I must thank
the team – Kalman Motorsport, Ronni Sala from Birel
and Neil my mechanic.”
All the action of Sunday’s racing
and podium was live on internet TV at www.massive-mag.tv
and will be online as streaming video within the next
week. Simply click on “Archives” and go to
“Kart Racing”.
The complete championship points table can be found by
going to “Round 3 – Sosnova” and then
“Results” on the official homepage of the
Euro Challenge at www.rgmmc.com.
Follow the “Kart Data Timing Live” link to
see the results from every session of the event beginning
from Friday’s practice
2008 ROTAX EURO CHALLENGE – Round 4
September 24 – 28 Genk, Belgium*
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