Nyck De Vries has added a new victory to his record of achievements, already very long despite his young age (13). At Ampfing, at the third meeting of the German Championship, the Dutch driver went through an incredible series of race mishaps, but most of all, he gave proof of great mental strength, when he succeeded in overcoming his handicap and triumphed at the final. Nyck took that chance to improve once more his provisional ranking in the Championship. With two victories in three races, Nyck De Vries continues to make the German pilots’ heads spin.
However, this new success was not as easy as it seems, even though everything had started well. Nyck explains what happened. “We did a
good job during free practice. I thought I had a good track knowledge of the difficult Ampfing circuit and its many corners, while my team had found good technical solutions for my equipment. At the last practice session, we had everything in order and I was the fastest of all the Juniors there. It was reassuring to know that we had worked
in the good direction”.
At timed qualifying, Nyck De Vries showed again how fast he is and conquered the pole position, with a margin of two tenths over his pursuers, including a few regulars of international competitions, such as Austrian Marc-Aurel Coleselli, Danish Michele Gatting and Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr. But this is when things got complicated. “The pilot at my side on the grid did a risky manoeuvre at the start of the first heat and we had a collision. Luckily, I could start again and climbed from the 30th and last position to 11th and I also set the best lap in race. Fortunately, the second heat was calmer and I could win, after controlling the final part of the race”.
Once again, Nyck was the fastest, but owing to the previous accident, he had to content himself with a fifth position at the start of the pre-final. Once again, there were many collisions and the race direction had no other choice but to display the red flag. Nyck also suffered the consequences of the ardour of his opponents. “I thought I could regain the lead of the race, instead I lost positions after another collision”. In any case the Zanardi-XTR of the Dutch pilot proved to be very reliable and a new record of the lap consoled De Vries Compétition Team.
At the final, Nyck made a great start and rapidly approached 7th position, before a red flag interrupted the race again. In the crush, the rear axle of Nyck’s kart was damaged. Despite all these accidents, Nyck did not panic and remained focussed. “Together with the team, we took advantage of the interruption to straighten up the
rear axle as best as we could. The chassis was not as good as at the beginning of the meeting, but it was enough to win!” After overtaking several times with much confidence and sportsmanship, Nyck De Vries finally reached the same position achieved at timed qualifying: first! With 77 points, against 57 of his immediate pursuer, this promise of Dutch motor racing sport has already taken a good option on the title of German Champion, with two races still to go. “In any case, this victory makes feel more confident, now that there are only two weeks to go before the beginning of the European Championship”, Nyck concluded.
Check his website: www.nyckdevries.nl |
