Academy Trophy Bahrain: Bale takes first victory in Race 1

George Russell moved to lead the start of the Academy Trophy Race 1 in Bahrain ahead of Joonas Lappalainen, Martijn Van Leewen and Paolo Besancenez while Erwan Julé was ejected from the track at the first corner and was back in 24th. Lappalainen didn’t take long to pass Russell. Alexander Maslennikov returned strongly, fifth on lap 2, then third on lap 3 and second on turn 3 on lap 5. Later, Thomas Bale and Martin Ellegard also gained places and moved closer to the top 5.

Shortly after Maslennikov passed Russell, he ran into the Tecpro blocks placed at the bottom right of the circuit, to prevent competitors from using the loophole. The crash was violent, Russell had the presence of mind to jump from his kart which was on the racing line. However the Spanish driver Cervera violently hit the machine. The “slow” procedure was started so he could be rescued.

The race was restarted on lap 10, but the signal was not very clear to the pack and some drivers took off, others kept the pace slow … It is a little confused. Then there was a real restart on the next lap. There were four laps left. Lappalainen could not long hold off Bale. On the last round, Maslennikov took second place and the third went to Ellegard despite resistance from Lappalainen.

This was the first international victory for the Dubai driver Thomas Bale, who also set the fastest lap. Van Leewen was 5th in front of Lessennes and Julé, beautifully risen from the depths of the rankings. However this was still a strange race overall.

Info Kartcom with Kartlink / © Photos KSP