Intrepid present on all fronts

With the start of the European championships just days away, it hasn’t taken Intrepid long to place its karts amongst the winners in all the national championships in which it is running in 2006. The factory has been in the thick of the action in Italy, France and Belgium.

A few weeks into the season and Scott Jenkins is already giving his rivals in the Junior category a lot to think about. The Intrepid driver has strung together some excellent results. His exploits in the Open Masters at the opening meeting in La Conca at the end of March were particularly noteworthy as he came through to win from way down in 16th place. One week later the young Briton was off to Genk for the start of the Belgian championships. He was peerless in the two finals, running out hands-down winner of the meeting. Lying in the lead after the qualifiers at Varennes sur Allier, he was all set to repeat his winning ways in the second round of the French championships. Unfortunately, with the finish in sight, he got involved in a shunt and crossed the line in 7th place in a race he was fighting to win.

That day Intrepid also performed brilliantly in the Elite class (Formula A). Kevin Breysse won two heats and came 3rd in the pre-final. He was hoping to prove how competitive he and his mount were in the final but unfortunately he dropped out towards the end of the race. However, Julien Soulié took up the challenge, crossing the line in 4th place, much to the joy of team manager Laurent Mazière. “Julien is only in his first season in the top category. He has nothing like the same degree of experience at this level as the other drivers. He is a talented driver, and this result shows how much he has progressed. He did just great and got the best out of his Intrepid-TM. He would have been on the podium too had it not been for narrowly losing out on the home straight”.
“I guess I showed my lack of experience by missing out on that 3rd place, said Soulié, but still, I am pleased with myself because I started the race back in 13th position. The guys in the Laumatec team prepared me a fantastic kart. The chassis just seemed to get better and better as I clocked up the laps”.

Busy on chassis development work for the official Intrepid works team, Arnaud Kozlinski was unable to get away from his duties to defend his French championship title. The talented Frenchman did however manage to take part in the Open Masters (Italian Championships) along with many of the best drivers from around Europe. In the first heat at La Conca, it looked as though Arnaud was in for a good day. “I got away to a good start and had already got past several rivals when my transmission let me down. I had saved my new tyres for the final and I was expecting to be in contention for victory. Indeed I had already overtaken the eventual winner Convers, so I have good reason to be disappointed. My luck seems to have been out since the start of the season, I hope things will go better for me in the European championships”.
Apart from Scott Jenkins’ victory mentioned above, another notable success in the south of Italy was Alessandro Piccini, who celebrated his arrival in the Intrepid team with a grittily won podium place. Annoyed at having dropped down from 3rd to 9th place in Race 1 because of a false start, the four times world champion driver made up for it in the second race by coming home 2nd. Carving his way through the field, the famous Italian, who has driven for so many famous makes in his career, was able to fully appreciate the qualities of the Intrepid chassis. In his forties he may be but Alessandro Piccini is still as hungry as ever for victory. The others have been warned !