Van Walstijn dominates KZ2 Qualifying in Wackersdorf

It was a hot day in Wackersdorf on Friday for the Qualifying Practice of the FIA Karting European Championship – KZ2, which followed the last Free Practice session without delay. The temperature at the end of the afternoon remained high, around 30° even though a few clouds had appeared in the Bavarian sky which had been clear since dawn. 95 drivers out of the 102 entered were present. The best performances of the last Free Practice were recorded in just under 47”2. The drivers usually waited until the last three minutes of their eight-minute session to start.

In his second fast lap, Laurens Van Hoepen (Birel ART/TM) set the reference time for the first session in 47’196, joined by Giuseppe Palomba (Birel ART/TM) on the following lap. Alexander Schmitz (Birel ART/TM) followed in 3rd place ahead of young Kajus Siksnelis (Energy/TM) and Martijn Van Leeuwen (Energy/TM). The top seven were grouped within 2 tenths. Juho Valtanen (KR/TM) was 7th, Lorenzo Travisanutto (Parolin/TM) 9th and Alessio Picini (Birel ART/TM) 16th.

Senna van Walstijn (Sodi/TM) raised the bar in the second session with a fastest lap of 47”085, ahead of Jorge Pescador (CRG/TM) by 0.264” and his team mate Jean Nomblot (Sodi/TM) by 0.366”. Daniel Vasile (DR/Modena) and Arthur Carbonnel (Sodi/TM) completed the top five. Local boy Valentino Fritsch (Birel ART/TM) finished 10th, while Lorenzo Giannoni (Sodi/TM) had to cut short his performance.

The third group delayed its entry on the track even more. This was not enough to challenge the magnificent performance of van Walstijn. Paavo Tonteri (CRG/TM) finished with 47”381, a thousandth faster than Leonardo Marseglia (KR/Iame). David Trefilov (Maranello/TM) followed by 44 thousandths ahead of Giacomo Pollini (CRG/TM) and Brandon Nilsson (CRG/TM). In 6th position, Jean Luyet (Tony Kart/Vortex) was ahead of Thomas Imbourg (Sodi/TM) and Hubert Petit (Sodi/TM), both just over a tenth behind Tonteri.

Info Kartcom / Photo © KSP