Val d'Argenton: Rain muddies the waters during qualifying
The second Competition of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship - OK & Junior was hit by rain during the last two timed sessions. Pole positions were secured on a dry track during the first sessions by Iacopo Martinese (ITA) in Junior and David Cosma Cristofor (ROU) in OK. The two timed series of the first FIA Karting Academy Trophy Competition took place in the rain, with Dan Allemann (CHE) the fastest.
213 Drivers are racing on the Val d'Argenton circuit in France in the second FIA Karting Competition of the 2024 season. Maxxis, the exclusive tyre supplier for all three categories, issued MW rain tyres for the first time to cope with the weather conditions, which may stay wet on Saturday.
Junior: Martinese on pole
As they didn’t have to deal with rain, the first session was the fastest in Qualifying Practice for this second Competition of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship - Junior. Italy's Iacopo Martinese took pole position - 50''916 - on slick tyres on his third lap. British drivers Roman Kamyab and Jarrett Clark were just over a tenth behind him. Irishman Daniel Kelleher took advantage of the still-dry track at the start of the second session to set a second lap of 51''539. Paul Andriotis (CHE) was second, 2.5 tenths behind, with Vladimir Ivannikov third. Finally, in a third session run entirely in the rain, Spaniard Christian Costoya was fastest with 1'02''918, 4 tenths quicker than Noah Baglin (GBR) and Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD). Provisional leader Dries Van Langendonck (BEL) didn't lose too much time in 10th position overall, followed by second-placed Sebastian Minns (GBR). Fourth-placed Bosco Arias (ESP) and fifth-placed Niklas Schaufler (AUT) dropped back to 34th and 50th.
Cosma Cristofor, OK poleman
To kick off the second Competition of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship - OK, Romanian driver David Cosma Cristofor set the fastest time in the first session of Qualifying Practices with 48'999 on a track that was still dry. He was followed by 6.6 hundredths by Dmitry Matveev, while Gabriel Gomez (ITA) finished 3rd at 1.4 tenths. The track was very wet for the second session, with Matheus Morgatto (BRA) nearly 3 tenths ahead of Joe Turney (GBR) with his time of 1'02''530. Salim Hanna (COL) followed in 3rd place. The rain came down again in the third serie and Fionn Mclaughlin (IRL) set the fastest lap with 1'03''034, nearly 5 tenths ahead of Oleksandr Bondarev (UKR), with Lewis Wherell (GBR) taking third place by more than 8 tenths. Among the drivers in the top five of the provisional Championship standings, Louis Iglesias (FRA) was the least successful, but not too far off the pace, with his 19th place in Qualifying.
Allemann sets the fastest time in the Academy Trophy
A technical and very wet track was not the easiest way to get started for the 50 participants in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy, especially as almost all the free sessions took place on a dry track. Despite the difficult conditions, the talented young field put in a creditable overall performance. Switzerland's Dan Allemann was indisputably the fastest with a time of 1'05''654 in the first serie, edging out Joel Taiaple (FIN) by 3 tenths and Sacha van't Pad Bosch (NLD) by just over 4 tenths. In the second session, Thailand's Sirikhett Sirimongkolkassem clocked a time of 1'05''941, 21 thousandths faster than Gilles Herman (BEL) and 85 thousandths faster than Erik Poulsen (SWE). Vanessa Silkunaite (LTU), supported by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, was the top female in 25th place.
The provisional programme for the Val d'Argenton Competition
Saturday 27th April
08:00 - 09:39: Warm-up
09:50 - 18:45: Qualifying Heats
Sunday 28th April
08:30 - 09:55: Warm-up
10:05 - 10.40: Qualifying Heats - Academy
10:45 - 12:20: Super Heats - Junior & OK
13:55 - 16:35: Finals