Remarkable overall performance for the entire Energy Corse team
Energy Corse was clearly one of the most competitive teams in the first round of the FIA Karting European Championships. In OK, Tomass Stolcermanis came close to victory in the Final at Portimao. Unfortunately, his spoiler moved slightly, resulting in a penalty that relegated him to 7th place. In OK-Junior, Energy Corse placed two drivers in the top 10 with Jules Caranta and Martin Molnar, two great revelations of the meeting. From race to race, the Italian team keeps confirming its high level performances, due to the competence of its technical staff and partners.
In the WSK in Italy, in the Champions of the Future Euro Series and in FIA Karting, Energy Corse continues its quest for the podium, accompanying its drivers to the top in the optimum conditions. "I am really happy with the work done by the technical team and the atmosphere in our awning," said Mick Panigada, team manager. "Since the beginning of the year, no matter what type or brand of tyre we use, our chassis has proved to be formidable. Our engine tuner GFR provides us with very effective TM engines and we manage to get the best out of them, with the technical support of the experienced Luigina Guerrini and Simone Sorio. I thank them for their valuable work. We also had an emotional moment when Andres Cardenas, Jules Caranta and Martin Molnar crossed the finish line in 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in one of the OK-Junior heats on Saturday."
Three Energy Corse drivers in the top 10 on the Final grid
In OK, the event started with the magnificent pole position achieved by Tomass Stolcermanis. In the heats and in the Super Heat, the Latvian secured his place in the leading group and went into action in the Final. He was in 4th place for several laps, and was in 2nd place at the halfway point of the race. Despite the advantage taken by the leader, he managed to come back to his wake, but he needed an extra lap to pass him. A penalty due to a shifted spoiler deprived him of the podium, but Tomass showed that he was a contender for the European Champion title.
In the OK-Junior class, all the Energy Corse riders were fast on the selective southern Portuguese track. Alexander Dahlstrom and Jensen Burnett set surprisingly fast lap times in the heats. However, the Finn suffered a problem in Qualifying which made his weekend more difficult, while the Canadian did not have the success he had hoped for.
Martin Molnar, Andres Cardenas and Jules Caranta all placed 3rd, 4th and 9th respectively in Qualifying and were all potential podium finishers. Cardenas went on to win two Qualifying Heats. Unfortunately, the Peruvian dropped out of a race on one occasion and fell down in the points table, complicating the rest of his competition. Molnar managed a brilliant clear round. The Hungarian continued his effort in the Final and achieved the best result of his FIA Karting career by finishing 9th.
As for the Frenchman Jules Caranta, he managed his best performance since his debut in OK-Junior. His 2nd place in the Super Heat spoke volumes about his competitiveness. In the Final, he fought bravely, taking 7th place in the last lap!
The Energy Corse team is already looking forward to confirming all these positive signals during the next European events…