Turney’s great comeback win in OK

The track in Trinec was beginning to dry out at the start of the OK Final of the Champions of the Future Euro Series. But all the karts were equipped with rain tyres that would have to last 25 laps in these uncertain conditions. Gabriel Gomez (CRG/Iame) and Kean Nakamura-Berta (KR/Iame) shared the first row ahead of Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy/TM) and Sebastiano Pavan (Tony Kart/Vortex). Jakub Kamenik (Tony Kart/TM) could not start in time.

Gomez started perfectly from Nakamura-Berta. An incident eliminated Pavan, Fionn MacLaughlin (KR/Iame), Guillaume Bouzar (Tony Kart/Vortex) and two other drivers at the first corner, while Alex Powell (KR/Iame) managed to get going in 19th position. An intense battle was going on at the front while the yellow flags were still in force. Nakamura-Berta had passed Gomez, Stolcermanis was 3rd and Nathan Tye 4th. Thomas Strauven (KR/Iame) was 5th and Joe Turney (KR/Iame) in 6th had gained eight positions. Stolcermanis dropped back to 6th ahead of Rene Lammers (Parolin/TM). Nakamura-Berta had gained almost 2″ in front of the pack on the sixth lap. Turney joined his team-mate Strauven and passed him. Powell was by far the fastest driver on the track and he gradually closed the gap on the tail of the pack. Turney came up in Gomez’s wake and passed him on the ninth lap. Strauven and Stolcermanis made short work of Tye on lap 10 to move into the top five. Turney was coming back at high speed on the leader Nakamura-Berta. Powell started to make up places with a ferocious appetite. Arthur Poulain (Tony Kart/Vortex) dropped out along with Yuanpu Cui (KR/Iame). Jules Caranta (Energy/TM) had progressed to the top 10. Turney took 1st place ahead of Nakamura-Berta on lap 14. Stolcermanis was 4th, far behind Gomez, Tye was 5th, Lammers 6th and Ean Eyckmans (Tony Kart/Vortex) 7th with 27 places gained. Strauven had retired as well as Gustaw Wisniewski (Exprit/TM). Turney crossed the finish line 4,7” ahead of Nakamura-Berta, then Gomez 3,4” further back. Stolcermanis was 4th on the line, Tye 5th ahead of Lammers.

Various penalties changed the final classification. Turney remained the winner, despite a warning flag and a 5 second penalty for his manoeuvre on Strauven. He had moved up 13 places. Gomez took 2nd place ahead of Nakamura-Berta, who was penalised by 5″ for overtaking under yellow flag conditions. Tye took 4th place ahead of Stolcermanis who was penalised 5″ for a badly positioned front fairing. Powell finished 8th, an improvement of 21 positions since the incident on the first lap. 9th, Matheus Morgatto (Birel ART/TM) had regained 23 places. Walther was 12th with a gain of 10 places despite a spoiler penalty. Caranta was 15th despite a 10″ penalty.

Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP