Nyck De Vries, 2010 Karting World Champion

A World CIK/FIA Championship title is the ultimate goal and the highest acknowledgement for every kart driver and Nyck De Vries (Zanardi-Parilla) had put it among his major priorities of the season. On the same circuit of Zuera, where he had already become European KF3 Champion, De Vries conquered an exciting victory on the very last lap of the KF2 final race. The 15-year old Dutch driver fought until the very end and his determination and talent did the rest.

With his long list of achievements and his recent victories at the highest level in the Super KF category, Nyck De Vries came to Zuera – near Saragossa, in Spain – as the main candidate to victory. It is always a difficult role to play, especially at a world meeting with 125 entered drivers in just three qualifying heats and rain interfering with free practice, the qualifying session and the first heat. “With all that traffic on track, I had some difficulty performing a clean lap and I had to content myself with 17th time in timed qualifying“, Nyck confessed. “During the first heat, some parts of the track were still wet and the first laps of the pack were pretty turbulent. I was a bit disappointed I only finished 10th, but together with the team we found the right reaction in the following two heats, which I won, this time in the dry“.

After qualifying 10th for the pre-final, Nyck De Vries shifted to higher gear in the new race and finally reached the lead, with his third place and second best lap time in race. Then the much awaited moment of the final arrived. The Chiesa Corse driver’s concentration was at its peak. “I made an excellent start, but without gaining places. I had to wait up to the 5th lap to reach second place, but meanwhile poleman Jordan Chamberlain had managed to build a small gap. Then I pushed to the maximum, but we drove with the same times for quite a while. I could not reach him! Together with the team, we decided to change a few of the kart parameters we had chosen for the pre-final and I wondered if this new adjustment was going in the right direction“.

Always very fast at the end of the race, Nyck started suddenly to come closer to his rival, tenth after tenth. “When I saw the sign of the last lap, I said to myself that I had to take my chance. After the long fast stretch, I decided to attack by braking very late and I managed to conquer the first place“.

 Magnificent in the last meters still to be covered, Nyck De Vries crossed the finish line as winner, his arms stretched to the sky. It was an extraordinary victory, both exciting and full of suspense, which established him as one of the most promising drivers of his generation.

This World KF2 Champion title is also a reward for his rock-solid determination as well the result of all the hard work carried out at technical level. “I have yet to fully realise it, but I am so happy to be World Champion. I was the fastest at the end of the race and that was the key for my victory today. A big thank you goes to Dino Chiesa, Zanardi, Iame for Parilla engines, my whole family, Tom for assistance, as well as to Anthony Hamilton and the McLaren F1 team factory, which decided to support me for the future“.

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