Bohra takes Junior pole position in the European Championship in Genk

With 100 drivers racing, the Timed Practice for the first round of the FIA Karting European Championship – Junior took place in Genk at the end of the afternoon. The four sessions benefited from a dry track and reasonable temperatures between 15 and 17°, despite alternating clouds and sunshine.

Akshay Bohra (KR/Iame) set the benchmark in Session 1 with a lap of 54”281 on his fifth run, followed by Ean Eyckmans and by Alex Powell (KR/Iame) not far behind, Anatoly Khavalkin in (Parolin/TM) 4th, Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy/TM) 5th and Dmitry Matveev (KR/Iame) 6th. Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/TM) was 7th ahead of Kirill Kutskov (KR/Iame). Arthur Poulain (Kosmic/Vortex) was 10th, Jules Caranta (KR/Iame) 13th and Guillaume Bouzar (Parolin/TM) 20th.

Harley Keeble (Tony Kart/Vortex) was quickly up to speed in the second session, but David Walther (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Kean Nakamura Berta (Exprit/TM) then took over. Dion Gowda (Kosmic/Vortex) beat them to the punch with a final lap of 54”383, less than 2 hundredths ahead of Coskun Irfan (KR/Iame) and Nakamura. Walther finished 4th ahead of James Egozi (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Keeble in 6th. Thomas Quincé (KR/Iame) finished 19th.

On a track that was perhaps a little slower following the brief rain shower that disrupted the second OK session, the third Junior session still managed to get close to the best performances. Freddie Slater (Kosmic/Vortex) managed to lap in 54”644, 32 thousandths ahead of his team mate Maxens Verbrugge (Kosmic/Vortex). Hugo Herrouin (Kosmic/Vortex) took 3rd place ahead of Maxim Rehm (Kosmic/Vortex) and Jayden Thien (Tony Kart/Vortex) who was 77 thousandths off the fastest time.

The fourth session drivers gradually increased the pace and it was not until the final moments and the fifth lap that we saw some really competitive times. Andres Cardenas (KR/Iame) set a time of 54’362 ahead of Luka Sammalisto (KR/Iame) and Enzo Deligny (Parolin/TM). Yuanpu Cui (KR/Iame) was 4th, more than a tenth behind Matheus Ferreira (KR/Iame). Augustin Bernier (KR/Iame) was 14th and Clément Outran (KR/Iame) 16th. One of the favourites, William Macintyre (Birel ART/TM) stopped after three laps and was placed last.

Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP