Team France goes into action

Wednesday was an important day with Qualifying and the first heats on the programme. The weather was still good at Portimao, but the fight was intense straight away at the real start of the competition. The French performances were contrasting with great successes and interesting progressions just waiting to be confirmed.

Both Micro Max drivers performed very well. Louis Iglesias was recovering as his machine was far from being on the pace during the last free practice session. The Rotax crew took matters into their own hands and he started Qualifying with a new spark plug and axle, in addition to a few more adapted settings. This allowed him to join the top 10, and especially to regain confidence. The fight was difficult in the pack in Heat 1 and he had to settle for 15th position. The morale of the driver from Brignoles remains excellent now that he can count on a fully operational kart. Théophile Nael scored the 4th fastest time before fighting to get back to 3rd position after an average start in the first heat. However, he did not control his opponents enough in one of the last corners and was taken off the track, which cost him five places at the finish.

In Mini Max, Craig Tanic had finally found the performance he was missing. Qualified 12th, he managed a very good Heat 1 and came back up to the flag to finish 6th with good pace. Marcus Amand impressed with his well-asserted style. He first posted the 6th fastest time and came back brilliantly to 3rd position in the first heat.

Sami Meguetounif raised the pace in Qualifying by finishing with 2nd place in the session, placing him 10th in the overall standings, before taking 4th position in the first heat. Camille Prouteau set the pace in Qualifying with a 6th time in his session and 18th overall. Even more motivated for his heat, he was back to 5th position with the third fastest time of the race. Victor Bernier was further back in 9th place in his group and 25th overall. A penalty for an unhooked spoiler dropped him to 15th in his heat. Hugo Vair regained his taste for the attack after a good Qualifying, 32nd out of 72. Not very happy with his first start, he gave everything to move up and reached 8th before being surprised by several opponents. He was nevertheless satisfied with his 9th place.

In Max, Jean Nomblot was unable to exploit the full potential of his kart in Qualifying with the 14th time in his session that turned into 37th place overall. He was recovering in his heat, returning from 18th to 7th position, and posting the 3rd fastest time of the race. Qualifying in 62nd place, Arnaud Sarrazin progressed during his heat and finally finished 14th. The situation remains uncomfortable for Matthieu Bourdon, after 69th in Qualifying and 33rd in his heat. The performance has not come and the explanation has not yet been found.

Charly Hipp had a big smile in spite of a crick in the neck. With 8th in the DD2 Masters, he enjoyed the battle in the first heat and finished in an excellent 2nd place. Michael Dauphin was less optimistic after his 17th in Qualifying when he did not have everything in order yet. The lively run in the heat did not allow him to regain ground as he hoped on a track where it is easy to lose time by attempting offensive manoeuvres.

Still happy to be part of the Rotax World Finals, Andrew Williamson was thrilled to regain a good level of confidence. Qualified a little far back in 59th position, he managed a superb series of overtakes to gain 12 places and finish 17th. Conversely, it was a dark day for Lucas Joly, all the more disappointing as the potential was there. His engine did not start on the starting grid of Qualifying. Despite the efforts of Rotax’s technical staff, he started past the time limit and was sidelined. He struggled to move up in his heat, but a technical problem caused him to drop back on the last lap.

On Thursday, November 9th, the Micro and Mini Max will race their second and final heat from 10:40 to 11:10, while the other categories will have two heats on their programme between 11:15 and 17:05. At the end of the day, the grid positions for the Prefinal will be revealed.

Info Kartcom / © Photo KSP