Team France Sarno – Thursday Day 4 – the positive after the heats

Everyone enjoyed this sunny day in Sarno, knowing that rain was forecast for the next day. The smiles are increasing in Team France with good overall progress despite the intensity of the races. Very good results in Mini Max, DD2 and DD2 Masters, and interesting performances in Senior from Fourquemin illuminated this on Thursday in the French Team. Spoiler penalties have also caused damage to the French drivers. Friday’s programme, in addition to the possibility of rain, includes Prefinals A and B starting with Junior Max. It will then be a matter of finishing in the top 18 to qualify for the Final.

Mini Max – Compkart: Three Frenchmen in the top four
The young drivers were already competing in their second and final Qualifying Heat this Thursday morning. Andy Ratel won after the battle to get back in the lead and keep his advantage on the line. Jolan Raccamier was in 2nd place several times in a very lively group, but dropped back to 9th on the very last lap. For a long time Paul Alberto was near the top five before also losing some places towards the end and finishing 8th. Finally, Karel Schulz attacked to finish a superb race. Andy was 1st in the Mini standings while Paul and Jolan were 3rd and 4th respectively. Although still 23rd, Karel will approach the Final stages with more confidence after his fine 14th place in the last heat.

Junior Max – Praga: Top four for Maguet
With a 4th and 3rd place this Thursday, Sacha Maguet has more than done the job as he moved up from 25th to 4th place in the heats. Noam Abramczyk’s performance was at almost the same level with a comeback from 18th to 7th place, while Téo Blin climbed from 36th to 25th place. Enzo Caldaras didn’t despair in terms of performance, but his bad habit of finishing with a dropped spoiler finally cost him dearly with 43rd place in the standings. However, he is still in a position to qualify in his Prefinal on Friday.

Senior Max – Sodi: The French are looking to the future
Paul Fourquemin drove two great heats to straighten out his situation, but a spoiler penalty delayed him in the last one putting him 8th instead of his 2nd place on the track. He nevertheless managed to return to 19th place, despite these disappointments. More cautious after the incident of the day before where he was injured, Guillaume Treillard de Quinemont took a 10th and then a 5th place and took 16th place overall. César Gazeau was mortified by his retirement in the second heat, but he then set the fastest time and finished 5th, which put him back in with a chance with 24th place in the heats. Florian Bourdon, who has nothing more to lose in 62nd position, is about to try a new adjustment and enjoy the Prefinal first and foremost.

DD2 – Birel ART : Picot and Joly always on the front row
Nicolas Picot and Lucas Joly continued to take centre stage in DD2. Picot excited the public during his last race: forced to avoid an incident in front of him at the first corner which took down his spoiler, he went off track and dropped to 8th on the first lap. He then played the long game to overtake his opponents one by one and finished in the lead. He was 3rd with two wins to his credit instead of three as he would have otherwise been able to do. Lucas Joly put in top-notch performances in the top three and was ranked 4th.

DD2 Master – Sodi: Champion in full ascent
After his 10th place on Wednesday, Rudy Champion made a real celebration on Thursday by moving up to 2nd then 3rd in his two heats. These solid performances brought him back from 19th to 6th place before the Prefinals. All our thoughts are with Romain Mangé who still has to wait a few days before his clavicle injury can be operated on in France.

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