Competition

Norman Nato fastest

With the qualifying practice sessions this Friday afternoon, the serious business has already begun for the European KZ1 and KZ2 championships which are being held this weekend at Wackersdorf in Germany. The young Frenchman Norman Nato created quite a surprise by setting the best time in the KZ1 qualifying practice in front of the reigning […]

International FIA Karting

Contested over only one round, the European Championship in KZ1 (the principal class of gearbox karts) is a fierce battle between the best drivers in Europe. In a dramatic weekend, the suspense will build up to a climax on Sunday at 15.45 when the Final is scheduled to start. At the end of that one race the title of European Champion awaits the winner !

Before that, the would-be champions must negotiate qualifying practice to the best of their ability, then the qualifying heats (which determine the 34 finalists and the positions on the starting grid of the pre-final) and the pre-final itself, which determines the starting grid for the final. In short it’s a long route, but a good qualifying time is a first important goal. This is a strategy perfectly understood by the young Frenchman Norman Nato ! At 16 years old, and only contesting his second season in gearbox karts, the Intrepid-TM driver gave himself the luxury of setting the fastest qualifying time ahead of the Belgian Jonathan Thonon (CRG-Maxter), the defending European Champion. But the margin of just 14 thousandths of a second already shows how competitive the races will be.

Behind these two front runners, there are some distinguished racers. The Dutchman Bas Lammers (Intrepid-TM) confirmed the good form of the Intrepid team by setting the 3rd fastest time in front of both CRG-Maxter drivers, Frenchman Arnaud Kozlinski and the Italian Davide Fore. On their Vortex powered Tony Karts, the Italian Marco Ardigo and Britain’s Gary Catt qualified 6th and 7th in front of Frenchmen Thomas Mich (Birel-TM) and Manuel Renaudie (Gillard-SGM). European KZ2 Champion in 2007, Dutchman Thomas Knopper (PCR-TM) completed the top 10 in the qualifying practice.

Both known for their capability in single seater racing, Britain’s Ben Hanley and Spaniard Jamie Alguersuari strongly contested the free practice. According to the evidence of the stopwatch, the Briton would figure amongst the favourites. But he was called for a test in a single seater at Magny-Cours (with team Colini) and he accepted the offer. As for the Spaniard, he was also in receipt of an offer which in his case apparently related to Formula 1.

In KZ2 (the second division of gearbox karting), Wackersdorf constitutes the second and final event of a Championship which had begun in mid April on the Italian track of Muro Leccese. The championship leader by virtue of his two victories in Italy, the Czech Patrik Hajek (Tony Kart-Vortex) demonstrated his capabilities by setting the 4th fastest time, behind Dutch brothers Jorrit and Yard Pex (both in CRG-TM) who were 1st and 3rd. British driver Jack Hawksworth (Energy-TM) split them by setting the second fastest time. Italian Marco Zanchetta also made it into the top 5 before the qualifying races scheduled for Saturday and Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon there will be two programmed races and then the three best results out of the total of 4 races contested, will determine the final destination of the Championship.

Info CIK / © Photo KSP

Publié le 26/06/2009