Promising Test Day at Ostricourt

The new CIK-FIA “U18” (for “under 18 years old”) World Karting Championship will officially begin on Friday 23 July during non-qualifying practice of the first event on the German circuit of Wackersdorf. However, there were many young Drivers who took advantage of the official Test Day organised by the International Federation on Tuesday 6 July at Ostricourt (France) to discover their new equipment.

For the first time, 37 out of the 70 entered Competitors could indeed run on the track with the new WKE (World Kart Engine) engine, identical for everyone and placed on a free basis at their disposal by drawing lots. “The engine is really working well and quite amusing to drive”, rejoiced Jordan Chamberlain, European KF2 Champion in 2009. “I was even pleasantly surprised by its performance.” And lap times proved the Briton right: at the end of the day, the best ones were faster than the fastest KF2s at the French Championship organised on the same circuit in 2009.

Jordan Chamberlian discovering U 18 material at Ostricourt.

Beyond performance, the participants declared themselves very pleased with the concept. The Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet, winner of both F4 Eurocup 1.6 races at the World Series by Renault event held in Hungary, thus made a come-back to karts for this Test Day. “I wanted to continue to run in Karting in parallel to my single-seater débuts”, he explained. “When I had the opportunity to participate in the ‘U18’ World Championship, I took it. On the one hand, this World Championship is very affordable financially, but it is also clear that if I could add a world title in Karting to my list of results, it would quite be a bonus!”

Held jointly to the “U18” World Championship, the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy – a competition hosting 34 Drivers all of different nationalities – also had its kick-off at Ostricourt. Almost twenty participants have already discovered their Parolin karts with FIM engines placed at their disposal totally freely by the Italian make. “This championship is fantastic”, said with a smile Switzerland’s Stefan Amweg, father of Levin and Severin, respectively entered in the “U18” World Championship and Academy Trophy. “Financially, there’s no question about it compared to other high-level competitions. And the fact that each Competitor is on a strictly equal footing, with identical equipment, is really important in my opinion.”

In addition to their equipment the Drivers have also discovered at Ostricourt the paddock in an original configuration as each participant has a tent, placed at their disposal by the Interational Federation, identical to his fellow Competitors’ ones. Contacts between teams thus make the atmosphere very friendly. Finally, a session of information and questions-answers as well as a photo session were organised. In 18 days, the names of the first graduates will be known. More than ever, the countdown has started!

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