Compétition

Zuera DD2: Babington concludes with a victory

Still sunny, but at 24 ° C with a breeze, the weather is great at Zuera for the first final of the Rotax Max Euro Challenge, for DD2. On the inside line, Sean Babington (Tony Kart – Strawberry Racing) and Andreas Backman (Tony Kart – Strawberry Racing) led as the lights changed while the battle was already raging for 3rd place between Jordon Lennox-Lamb ( CRG – CRG), Ben Cooper (Birel – KMS Birel Motorsport) and Anthony Abbasse (Sodi – SODIKART). Babington got away slightly and Cooper attacked Backman on lap 2, Lennox-Lamb also passed for third, and then Abbasse passed the Swedish driver for 4th position. The Portuguese driver Henrique Baptista (FAKart – Dan Holland Racing) then took fifth place ahead of Haralds Garkaklis (Gillard – MRG Racing). Xen De Ruwe (Intrepid – Intrepid Driver Program) was missing.

Cooper attacked and took 1st place on the seventh lap at the expense of Babington while Lennox-Lamb was following closely. Backman was back in fourth position after his troubles in the early laps. The top three were extremely close. Babington took control on lap 9 with Lennox-Lamb in his wheeltracks and Cooper 0.28” behind. But the race was not over, there were still 5 laps to go. Solidly 5th, Baptista was now ahead of Abbasse as the French driver lost 3 places to the benefit of Michael Christensen (Tony Kart – RS Competition), Ferenc Kanscar (Birel – KMS Birel Motorsport) and Kevin Lüdi (Kosmic – Spirit Karting). Cooper retook second position with two laps to go, but Babington still had a lead of 7/10.

Babington won from Cooper, the fastest in the race, then Lennox-Lamb, Backman was 4th, Baptista 5th, Christensen 5th and Abbasse 9th. In the top 10 at the beginning of the last lap, Damien Vuillaume (Flandria – Flandria Competition) had dropped to 16th by the line, Julien Renaudin (Sodi – Pro Kart Racing) finished 19th. Martin Pierce (Praga – Praga Racing Team) got the top spot in DD2 Master after a fight with Tamsin Germain (Gillard – DG Racing), and Franck Rouxel (Sodi – Sodi Shop) took the 3rd place in front of Christophe Adams (Kosmic – Sonic Racing Kart).