Ramping up

With five drivers racing in the European Formula A championships, Sodikart continues to ramp up for the major event of the 2006 season – the upcoming Word championship meeting in Angerville. The French Grand Prix meeting at Varennes sur Allier last 24-25 June turned out to be a time of very mixed fortunes for the team.

Winner of the last round of the French Elite class championships at Varennes sur Allier, Jean-Eric Vergne came into the weekend full of confidence for his first ever French Grand Prix race. Right from the time trials he was amongst the leaders, clocking the 12th fastest time, within a tenth of a second of the more experienced drivers Kozlinski, Catt and Christodoulou. The Parisian driver confirmed his potential in the first heat as he drove his Sodi-TM mount to a brilliant second position. Proving that this was no fluke, he clocked up the second fastest lap time at an average speed of 100 kph.
Although he drove another top 10 race in the final heat, the fact that he had been forced to drop out of his second heat meant he only started Race 1 in the middle of the pack, down in 17th place. “I was still fairly confident”, he related, “I thought I’d be able to climb up the field because I knew the kart was so competitive”. In fact Jean-Eric was going incredibly well at the start of the race. By the seventh lap he was up to sixth place. However, a tangle in the chasing pack was to put paid to the Sodi driver’s hopes. “Risitano clipped me as I was moving up the field”, continued Jean-Eric. “It’s a real pity because I was right on the tail of the drivers who ended up on the podium”. As for Race 2, it got interrupted by rain towards the finish and finally had to be stopped by the race marshals because of a mix up in the red flag procedure.
“The positive we can take from the race is that the chassis was running perfectly in the sweltering conditions. That augurs well for the future”, said Franck Le Beller, who is in charge of the French team. “The longer the race the better the chassis performs. The drivers love that! In the French Grand Prix Jean-Eric was clearly in a position to get a great result but our luck was out”.

Berthin wins a heat
Braun Racing driver Nathanaël Berthon was another driver who demonstrated the truth of Franck Le Beller’s words. A driver who, like Vergne, has come through the ICA ranks, Berthon just seemed to get better as the weekend progressed, finishing up with a qualifying heat win. Despite his lack of experience at this level, he turned in a masterful performance. “The team set up the kart perfectly and it went like the devil” said the driver from Auvergne. “I was already going well on the Saturday, but in the finals it got better still because I clocked the 3rd fastest lap in Race 1, just two hundredths of a second off the fastest time”. Unfortunately, as happens in racing sometimes, he then got caught up in a prang. When he got back on the track he was back down in 29th place but nevertheless managed to climb back up to 14th place in the few laps that remained in the race.
Laurent Miskiewicz, on the other hand, had a very tough race. “You have to remember he hasn’t had much racing at international level before coming to the Word Championships,” pointed out Franck Le Beller in his defence, “it’s normal he should take a little while to get used to racing on soft compound tyres”. Le Beller added: “in addition to the Julie Tonelli Trophy, we have several practice sessions planned before the World Championship racing at Angerville, the idea being to arrive at the meeting in top shape”. Unfortunately, after lying in a promising 14th position in the standings thanks to 5th and 7th places picked up in Saturday’s heats, Arnaud Sarrazin had to abandon just as he was about to get amongst the points.

Breysse and Alfano swell the ranks
Two new drivers will be donning the Sodikart suit at the World Championships. French team driver Kevin Breysse will be joining the official Sodi works team and will drive alongside Jean-Eric Vergne and Laurent Miskiewicz. Florian Alfano, who drives for PSM, will race a PCR-powered Sodi chassis. Florian blooded his new steed in Sarno, in the 4th round of the Italian championships.