Maïsano, Mich and Lacaze: 2008 champions

The Championship of France 2008 shall be remembered for bad weather conditions. The races all took place under the rain, thus undermining the efforts made by FFSA to enhance the interest about Karting Grand Prix. Races were exciting in any case and the final race was needed to determine the names of 2008 champions.

Charles Lacaze won for the second year in a row in KF2. Charles took the lead in the Salbris Grand Prix and no one was able to really compete with him. Belgian Robin Frijns was a resolute rival, while Kenny Vermeylen was extremely competitive under the rain. Guillaume Barbarin was able to end the season with good performances.

Thomas Mich won the title in KZ2, thus repeating the success obtained in 2006. Like Lacaze in KF2, Mich did his best after Salbris, where he started to gain points and extended the lead over his rivals, Enzo Zéfirini, Anthony Abbasse and Emilien Grosso.

In KF3 the competition was particularly tough, with the exciting dualism between Belgian Guillaume De Ridder and Brandon Maïsano. De Ridder won the races under the rain, while Maïsano won with good weather conditions and obtained his first title of French champion in KF3, in a climate of fair competition among pilots. In his first year in KF3, junior French champion Jonathan Hélias, was able to end on the third step of the podium.

As said, the last FFSA Karting Grand Prix of the season was characterised by bad weather conditions. Spurred by the KZ1 World Cup and KF3 European championships that will be held in September, the organisation in Varenne was able to combine quality and quantity, thanks to the participation of many official pilots.

In KF2, Charles Lacaze got the points he needed to win with the second place obtained on Saturday. Guillaume Barbarin was able to emerge and won the race after a resolute attack. Willliam Benedetti moved up to the 3rd step of the podium twice and has been constantly improving all along the season. Robin Frijns, a very talented pilot, was not lucky and was delayed by many adverse events during the race. On Sunday the victory went to Kenny Vermeylen, who preceded Dane Smith. Flavien Bouzana came 4th after Benedetti. Charles Lacaze, who started from the 31st place due to a withdrawal in the pre-final, made an impressive recovery and ended 9th.

As many as 45 pilots took part in the KZ2 race and the organising committee was therefore forced to split them into two groups, as the access to the track in Varenne is allowed to a maximum of 44 pilots. Pilots found it sometimes difficult to keep their powerful karts under control, due to the fast and slippery track. The 2007 World champion, Italian Marco Ardigo won two races, and the result in itself cannot give the idea of how competitions were tough and the outcome uncertain. Some pilots went too far. Jonathan Thonon and Arnaud Kozlinski were often the fastest, but mechanical problems forced them to withdraw on Sunday. On Saturday, Thomas Mich, who had to recover from the last places, proved to be up to the best international pilots and shall be taken into consideration for the World Cup that will be held in Varenne in September. Noteworthy was also the performance of Christophe Benoit, who came 3rd in race 2.

In Varenne, KF3 was characterised by the dualism between Maïsano and De Ridder, as happened all along the season. An important outsider took part in the race as well, i.e. Dutch Nyck De Vries who came to Varenne to see the track. He came 2nd and 3rd in the final. Italian Matteo Ghirelli and Matteo Beretta did well and caught the attention of Belmaaziz, Picariello, Carel, Schmidt, regular patrons of FFSA Karting Grand Prix.