Champions of the Future: Morgatto 5th in OK Final at Val D'Argenton
Matheus Morgatto continued his fine form by taking his Birel ART chassis in the colours of the CL Racing Team to 5th place in the Champions of the Future Euro Series at the Val d'Argenton circuit in France, while Mees Houben climbed back into the top 10.
The main difficulty of the second round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series was to negotiate the particular layout of Val d'Argenton, which has seen little international competition for over 10 years. The new asphalt had also been washed out by heavy rain prior to the meeting and the overall grip was not as good as usual. The relative narrowness of the track contrasted with the more modern circuits and didn't really encourage overtaking. Birel ART confirmed a solid level of performance in OK, but it wasn't always easy to make up ground when Qualifying didn't go to plan.
"The Val d'Argenton meeting ended on a high note with Matheus Morgatto (CL Racing Kart) finishing 5th," explained Jordon Lennox, Birel ART Racing's OK Team Manager. "Despite the specificities of the Val d'Argenton track, we were able to rely on the competitiveness of our TM Kart-powered Birel ART chassis to achieve consistent results in the Champions of the Future Euro Series. We learned a lot over the weekend and we'll be using the data we collected to fine-tune our strategy ahead of Round 2 of the FIA Karting European Championship - OK in less than two weeks' time. The working atmosphere within the team is excellent thanks to the good results we're recording in OK."
Val d'Argenton's strengths in OK
Matheus Morgatto - CL Racing Team 21st out of 82 in Qualifying, two top threes, two top fives and a fastest race lap in the heats, 10th (+11 places) in the intermediate classification, 2nd in the Super Heat and 5th in the Final.
Mees Houben 52nd in Qualifying, 21 places gained in the heats, 8th in the Super Heat (+8 places), another 16 places gained in the Final to finish 11th.
Noah Wolfe - VAR by Birel 11th in Qualifying, 5th, 4th, 2nd, 3rd and 1st with the fastest race lap in the heats, 6th in the intermediate classification (+5 places), 4th on the grid in the Final, 16th at the finish.
Ludovico Busso 18th in Qualifying, three top five finishes in the heats, five places in the intermediate classification, 18th in the Final.
Ean Eyckmans didn't have a very successful weekend in France. Unhappy with the performance of his tyres, he also suffered a number of setbacks, including two retirements, and was unable to qualify for the Final.