Last Heats in OK at Genk

It was sunny on Sunday morning for the last three Qualifying Heats of the FIA ??Karting European Championship – OK at Genk, with warm temperatures and differences in performance caused by the use or not of new tyres.

Nikolas Pirttilahti (KR / Iame) and Thomas Imbourg (Kosmic / Iame) quickly dislodged Dino Beganovic (Tony Kart / Vortex) from 1st place. Matheus Morgatto (Tony Kart / Vortex) and Matias Salonen made a strong comeback while Harry Thompson (FA Kart / Vortex) lost ground. Imbourg took the lead before the halfway, far ahead of Gilles Staddsbader. Imbourg won without problems against Morgatto and Salonen, then Stadsbader.  Beganovic finished 5th, Kas Haverkort went up to 6th before being penalised to 12th for his spoiler and Dexter Patterson (KR / Iame) had to settle for 9th place.

Sebastian Ögaard (Tony Kart / Vortex) and Ben Dörr (KR / Iame) easily passed Alessandro Irlando (Birel ART / TM) after the start of the C-D heat but Dilano Van T’Hoff (Exprit / TM) was 3rd. Kirill Smal (Tony Kart / Vortex) fell to the back of the pack. Ögaard was the winner in front of Rasmus Kortelainen (Tony Kart / Iame) and Van T’Hoff, Gabriele Bortoleto (CRG / Iame) retained his 5th place ahead of Lorenzo Travisanutto (KR / Iame) and Irlando.  After a penalty Sami Meguetounif (Kosmic / Iame) was 15th. Juho Valtanen (Redspeed / Iame) gained 13 places to 8th place before dropping to 19th because of a penalty.

After two false starts, the start was finally given.  Pedro Hiltbrand (CRG / Iame) took the inside against Luigi Coluccio (Birel / ART) on the first lap then poorly ranked drivers shod with new tyres went into action: Mikkel Hojgaard (Tony Kart / Vortex), Frans-Emil Saarjävi (KR / Iame), Aleksey Sizov (KR / Iame) and others. Sizov finally won in front of Kai Askey (FA Kart / Vortex) and Loris Cabirou (Kosmic / Iame), then penalised to 10th position. Ayrton Fontecha came back from 20th to 3rd position. Hiltbrand finished 6th, Coluccio 13th with a loss of 12 places, Gabriele Mini (Parolin / TM) 16th and Taylor Barnard (KR / Iame) 19th. Franck Chappard (Redspeed / Iame) was disqualified for being too light at the finish.    

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