Hubert wins Academy Trophy 1st Round

Supporting the “U18” World Championship, the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy tracked 32 drivers all of different nationalities, and all representing their own national federation. As a result, we had drivers from 4 different continents but it was the European who were always the front-runners. In this competition where all the drivers were provided with identical Parolin chassis and FIM motors, it really was only the talent of the driver which made the difference.

In this context, French lad Antoine Hubert made a great impression by winning two close races. Selected by the French Fedération at the end of a two-day selection process, Antoine twice finished in front of the Estonian Hans Villemi who had the fastest time in the qualifying practice in the rain. Third in the first race, the driver from Monaco Charles Leclerc fell away as a result of a technical problem during the second race. This was to the advantage of Finland’s Niklas Tiihonen, on the podium for the second race and helped in the championship standings. Finishing 4th twice, English lad Roy Johnson was always in the thick of the action and will be a serious contender at the end of August during the next round. The same applies to the Dutchman Max Koebolt, Charles Leclerc, currently 6th in the championship, German Michael Waldherr, the Swede Hannes Nillsson, the driver from Luxemburg Olivier Thill and Russian Vsevolod Gagen who completed the top 10 after the two races in Germany.

The next round is scheduled for the Spanish circuit at Alcaniz from 27th to 29th of August, before the final round at Val d’Argenteon, in France (1st to 3rd of October).

Info CIK / © Photo KSP