Third-place finish in the European Championship – KZ for CRG and Viktor Gustafsson
After being among the protagonists of the Euro OK with Gabriel Gomez's 2nd place in the Championship, CRG colors confirmed themselves at the top in the FIA events also in the KZ category with Viktor Gustafsson's 3rd place in the Championship. At the start of the decisive Final, the Swedish driver, who was only 2 points behind the leader of the standings could have won the title, but such tight races do not allow for mistakes and, unfortunately, something was missing in the race pace in the Final and the 7th place obtained took away any hope of victory. Even his direct opponent Senna Van Walstijn was beaten by just one point by Lorenzo Travisanutto, who with 2nd place in the race behind the winner David Trefilov (Team Maranello), thus won the title.
However, what remains positive from the FIA European Championship KZ for the CRG colors is yet another proof of competitiveness in a category that also has a high weight on the national markets. The 2024 Championship took place over 2 races and in both events, the CRG Racing Team was competitive, with constant performances in very different track and grip conditions.
Regarding the KZ category, it is worth talking about the positive weekend of Arthur Carbonnel, who after a problem in Qualifying Practice, was very competitive in all the Heats until finishing the Final in P11. However, Jeremy Iglesias was unlucky and was forced to retire in the Final. Paavo Tonteri had a complicated and very unlucky weekend in KZ2, while Alvar Siimesvaara showed good performances: he started in P18 and in the Final, he had a very solid race pace which would have allowed him to finish the race in the top ten, before a technical problem stopped him.
The next appointment for the drivers and the teams of the KZ category will be the FIA World Championship scheduled for October 13th in Portugal at Portimao and it will certainly be a new opportunity for all CRG drivers to aim for an important result.
CRG drivers’ post-race reactions:
Viktor Gustafsson (KZ): “It was a very challenging weekend because we didn't shine in Qualifying Practice and in the Heats we had to make up positions on our rivals. We were very competitive in general, but we lacked a bit of performance to make the difference, especially in the Final, when perhaps we didn't make all the right choices. We will do all the useful analyses on this weekend's data and we will work even more determinedly to prepare for the World Championship in October. In any case, the balance of our European Championship remains very positive and the whole team must be proud of constantly achieving these levels of results”.
Alvar Siimesvaara (KZ2): “In Qualifying I found traffic during my best lap and I only finished P14 in the group, but then in the Heats and the Super Heat we were always very fast, almost always finishing in the top ten. I could have finished an excellent race in the Final too, but after a good start, where I climbed up to P11, a technical problem stopped me at the end. In any case, I am happy with the speed we had in an event with all the big names in karting on the track and I have to thank the whole team for the great work done".