Pohjola the big OK-Junior winner of the Champions of the Future at Val d’Argenton

The OK-Junior Final of the 2nd round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series at Val d’Argenton benefited from fine weather and a temperature of 23°C. The four new Maxxis tyres for each driver were to reshuffle the cards throughout the 20 laps of the Final after the long Qualifying phases.

Filippo Sala (LN/TM) didn’t miss his start and took P1 ahead of Kenzo Craigie (KR/Iame), then Sebastien Lehtimaki (Tony Kart/TM), Dries van Langendonck (Exprit/TM) and Joel Pohjola (Tony Kart/Vortex). William Calleja (Parolin/TM), Dean Hoogendoorn (KR/Iame) and Kacper Rajpold (Tony Kart/TM) were among the victims of the first heat. Aloïs Girardet (Energy/TM) was 29th, Borys Lyzen (Sodi/TM) 22nd and Rocco Coronel (KR/Iame) 13th. Craigie took the lead, followed by Pohjola, then van Langendonck, with Lehtimaki 4th, ahead of Niklas Schaufler (KR/Iame) and Kosei Oguma (KR/Iame). Pohjola took the lead on the sixth lap, while Sala fell to 9th. Christian Costoya (Parolin/TM) had made up 20 places to 15th. Schaufler then attacked van Langendonck for 3rd place, Oguma overtook Lehtimaki for 5th ahead of Jack Illife (Parolin/TM). Coronel was now in 7th place ahead of Lethimaki and Sala. Meanwhile, Pohjola had taken the lead 2.5″ ahead of Craigie. Schauffler moved up to 2nd on lap 12. Coronel attacked Oguma who responded, but Illife took advantage to pass them both. Pohjola had a 4″ lead with three laps to go, Schaufler was isolated in 2nd and Craigie didn’t seem to be threatened in 3rd. Pohjola took a convincing victory for the Tony Kart Racing Team, with the fastest lap and an eight-place improvement. Schaufler was 2nd 4.2″ further back after making up nine places. Craigie was 3rd at 2.7″, followed by van Langendonck and Illife. Coronel finished 6th, Sala 7th, Oguma 8th, Lehtimaki 9th and Paul Andriotis (LN/TM) +19 places. 12 karts failed to finish.

Provisional results pending publication of the official rankings.

Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP – Arthur Saulnier-Bruneau