EUROPEAN CHAMPION! After Ricardo Van der Ende in 2004 and Ernst Behrens in 2006, Tony Lavanant conquered the third European KZ2 karting title in just five seasons for Energy Corse Team. On September 7th, the Varennes round witnessed the triumph of Energy chassis, with a double victory for Kevin Jansen, while the KF3 category also provided some reasons for satisfaction to the Italian brand.
In early September, the Energy Corse team went to France with a clear objective: to conquer the European KZ2 Championship. After winning at Angerville on season debut and at Mariembourg at the end of June, Tony Lavanant was determined not to miss this opportunity. “The Energy Team prepared for this last meeting in KZ2 with great professionalism, as usual, Tony stressed. “We analysed every single test and practice round in detail, to improve in the following race. At Varennes, this strategy was very fruitful”.
Lavanant gained an advantage over his rivals already during practice, and set the second best time, just ahead of Mathias Gallepe, thereby confirming the competitiveness of his Energy chassis equipped with a TM engine prepared by Rizzi Compétition. The Frenchman kept his place on the front row of the grid in Race 1, after winning two heats. “Kevin Jansen from Fly Kart/Energy Team and I remained in the lead during the whole race pretty easily. For me it was enough to finish second and this is exactly what I did! I wanted to finish the season on a high note and try and win Race 2. Unfortunately I had a collision and found myself 8th, even though I set the best lap!”
If Jansen assured a double success to the Energy brand at the European
Championship with his two victories in a row, Gallepe also made an excellent European season. It is true that he had to abandon Race 2 after falling from 9th to 6th place in the first final, but he finished the Championship with an excellent 4th place. Menno Meijers was not equally successful, but he set some excellent times in Race 2 when he was trying to regain positions, after he had abandoned Race 1.
Grenhagen Makes an Exploit in KF3
Quite unfortunate during qualifying, Mans Grenhagen managed to turn the situation to his advantage in the final phase. Despite his 34th place (he was the last qualified driver), he was 13th after the pre-final, then 5th in the final, and in the end he drove even faster than race leaders. “The chassis did a great job. It was fast and reliable”, Grenhagen confirmed. “I was very pleased, though I would have preferred to start from a better place and be able to fight for a podium”. 7th in the qualifying round for the northern region at Göteborg, just behind Grenhagen, Russian Stepan Karasev had some problems in timed qualifying, before turning his modest 65th place in
an unexpected 16th in the final!
Michele Panigada’s viewpoint, team manager of Energy:
“We lost the title last year after a penalty to Danny Bleek, therefore we were very happy to win the European KZ2 Championship again. The whole team has really done a wonderful job and this can only stimulate us to aim even higher next season. I am also very pleased with the Energy performances in “KF” categories. After winning in Johansson at the Viking Trophy and at the KF2 qualifying phase for the Northern region, Mans Grenhagen concluded an excellent European KF3 Championship, too”. |
