After a year-long break, the German Kart Championship was back in Ampfing. Best conditions and attractive races made for a great season ending. The Championship trophies went to Niels Tröger (DKM), Akshay Bohra (DJKM), Senna Van Walstijn (DSKM) and Jakob Bergmeister (DSKC).
At the beginning of May, the German Kart Championship started into its new season on the Erftlandring in Kerpen and stopped in Wackersdorf, Genk (Belgium) and Mülsen during the course of the season. The finale took place in Ampfing: Last year, the 1.063m long track was not part of the racing calendar due to the Corona pandemic. Now the DKM returned. The conditions couldn't have been better. Beautiful late-summer weather caused great moods in the paddock.
Things got exciting on the race track. In all four classes, the final decisions were yet to be made and there were numerous events throughout the finals that couldn't have been written better in a script. DKM-series coordinator Stefan Wagner was very content with the course of the 59th DKM season: „Even though the fields were a little more thinly manned this weekend, we're looking back on a successful year. Due to our great team, we've managed to carry out all events as planned even though we had to overcome some hurdles, especially at the beginning of the season. Everyone went along in the interest of the sport though and for that, we'd like to thank our team as well as all drivers and teams. I'd like to congratulate all the new Champions. Finally, I'd like to thank the ADAC South Bavaria for the first-time execution of the race in Ampfing.“
DKM: Niels Tröger wins title
Theoretically, four drivers still had the chance of winning the title in the German Kart Championship prior to the finale. The Championship was led by Niels Tröger (SRP Racing Team) since the first racing weekend in Kerpen. The Saxon obviously didn't want to give up his top spot during the finale as well. During qualifying and the heats, a new face came up with Felix Arnold (KSM Official Racing Team) though and led the ranking before the final races. Directly behind him was title aspirant Tröger.
The start into the first final race on Sunday could hardly have been more dramatic. During the first bend, Tröger had to drop out of the race and the title seemed lost. His direct pursuer Juliano Holzem (CV Performance Group) fought his way forward to third place and thereby made things extremely interesting. In the fight for victory, Luca Griggs (KSM Official Racing Team) prevailed though: The Brit fought his way past his teammate Elias Olsen shortly before the end of the race and thereby celebrated his first victory of the season. Behind the top three, two more drivers from the KSM-cadre, Herolind Nuredini and Arnold, followed. But Arnold was disqualified after the race due to wrongly used race tires, new fifth winner was Sandro Holzem (CV Performance Group).
The decision regarding the Championship was then made during the second race. While Griggs drove towards his second victory, all eyes were on Tröger and Juliano Holzem. The latter was on his way to the title with a top five result, but a setback followed. Due to a technical defect, the Rhineland-Palatine resident had to drop out of the race. In the meantime, Tröger fought his way forward from last to third place and thereby brought the DKM-title back to Germany for the first time since 2013. „I'm very happy about this success. During the past years, we've worked very hard and are now being rewarded with the biggest title in Germany. I'd like to thank my team and my family for their support“, the 19-year-old rejoiced in his winner's interview. Wang To Yip (TB Racing Team) was also in a good mood, ending up on second place on the podium. The top five were completed by Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen (RS Competition) and Fabio Rauer (KSM Official Racing Team). In addition to the Champion, Kiano Blum (TB Racing Team) was also honored as best rookie.
Final Championship ranking DKM:
1. Niels Tröger (190 points)
2. Luca Griggs (181 points)
3. Juliano Holzem (169 points)
4. Elias Olsen (166 points)
5. Sandro Holzem (154 points)
DJKM: Title favorites share victories – Bohra wins Championship
With Maxim Rehm (Ricky Flynn Motorsport) and Akshay Bohra (TB Racing Team), two drivers made their mark on the season so far and now fought for the title at the grand finale. Bohra achieved a perfect start into the Championship fight: The Singaporean drove to pole position and defended this position during the heats as well. Rehm kept very close on second place.
The first final race was dominated by the duo. Bohra won the start, Rehm stayed in his wind shadow throughout all of the 19 laps though. The German wasn't able to launch an attack though and thereby missed a big chance in the fight for the title. A little behind followed Valentin Kluss (RS Competition), Tom Kalender (TB Racing Team) and Lenny Ried (Lanari Racing Team) on the further cup ranks.
The decision was then made during the last race of the year. Bohra and his teammate Kalender achieved a perfect start and drove in front of Rehm. He didn't let up though and gained the lead due to a strong manoeuvre during the first lap. He then set the pace at the front and celebrated his fifth victory of the season. Bohra was also in a celebratory mood because he won the title by coming in second: „I'm very happy to have won the DJKM and want to thank Maxim for the great fight throughout the course of the season. The two of us combined have won 9 out of 10 races which shows how equal we were.“ Kalender finished his year with a place on the podium, coming in third. Kluss and Ried ended up in the top five again as well.
Taym Saleh (TB Racing Team) was the best rookie of the juniors and also received a trophy. During the course of the season, Saleh was the only driver who managed to leave Bohra and Rehm behind once, by winning a race in Genk.
Final Championship ranking DJKM:
1. Akshay Bohra (252 points)
2. Maxim Rehm (244 points)
3. Douwe Dedecker (158 points)
4. Jonathan Weywadt (140 points)
5. Tom Kalender (136 points)
DSKM: Championship trophy goes to Dutchman Senna van Walstijn
In the DSKM, there were also two drivers who still had chances of winning the title prior to the finale in Ampfing. Next to overall leading driver Senna van Walstijn (CPB Sport), Fabian Federer (SRP Racing Team) also had a chance of winning his second DSKM-title. At the same time, this was the last race for the 32-year-old South Tyrolean in the DSKM – he is going to end his successful career at the end of the year. In Ampfing, it was all about winning for him though and he was directly behind his opponent on second place after the heats.
Van Walstijn dominated the first final race from pole position though. He drove farther and farther away from the field lap after lap and achieved his fifth victory of the season. Federer on the other hand had bad luck: During a duel, there was a collision and the Maranello-driver had to end the race and give up on his title dream. Second driver Kris Haanen (KSM Official Racing Team) was very well underway though: As the youngest driver of the field he ended up on the winners' podium. German Alexander Schmitz (BirelART Racing KSW) achieved his best result of the season by coming in third. NB Motorsport-duo Daniel Stell and Simon Connor Primm completed the top five.
During the second final race, Tim Tröger (SRP Racing Team) showed a super quick start and raced from last place to first. He then drove away from the field and achieved his first DSKM-victory. After the race, he was disqualified due to his early start though, which gave Valentino Fritsch (BirelART Racing KSW) his first success in the highest German Shifterkart-league. The Upper Palatine resident fought his way forward during the course of the race from the back of the field to the front. Guust Specken (CRG Holland) came in second in front of Stell. Van Walstijn experienced a difficult start: After the first lap, he was in the back of the field. During the course of the race he gained ground again though and profited from a spoiler penalty against Federer which made him end up on fourth place. His teammate Joey van Splunteren completed the top five. Van Walstijn ended up being the new Champion. He thereby is the first driver who managed to receive a title in the DSKC as well as the DSKM. „This was a really good year. I'd like to thank everyone who was involved and want to tie in with this next year“, the Dutchman rejoiced in the evening.
Final Championship ranking DSKM:
1. Senna van Walstijn (247 points)
2. Fabian Federer (196 points)
3. Juho Valtanen (160 points)
4. Kris Haanen (157 points)
5 Valentino Fritsch (138 points)
DSKC: Marvin Langenbacher and Champion Jakob Bergmeister share victories
Jakob Bergmeister (SRP Racing Team) was able to keep things calm this weekend. His direct pursuer in the fight for the title, Thomas Imbourg (CPB Sport) did not start in Ampfing and all other opponents only had very theoretical chances of still winning the title. Nonetheless, the Rhinelander fully attacked and dominated the events on Saturday.
A possible winning streak by Bergmeister was stopped during the first final race though. He fell out of the race quite early due to a collision. At the front, four drivers competed for victory. Marvin Langenbacher (RS Motorsport) took the lead after two laps and didn't give it up until the finish line either. He was accordingly joyful about his first victory of the season. Directly behind him followed Lukas Schächer (BirelART Racing KSW), Lev Lomko (CPB Sport) and Paul Rieberer (BirelArt Racing KSW). Horst Felix Felbermayr (Solgat Motorsport) completed the top five in the race, but didn't use the mandatory race tires and was disqualified after. New fifth winner was guest driver Simon Beyer.
The field acted completely differently during the second final race. This time, it was André Walter (Kart Performance Racing) who was unstoppable. Due to a strong pace, he gained a comfortable advance, which still wasn't enough in the end. His spoiler had gotten lose and he received a five-second-penalty afterwards. Thereby he was only a blink of an eye behind new winner and Champion Jakob Bergmeister, who had proven that he was the deserved winner with his catching-up race. After his falling out he started into the race from all the way back and still won it. „It's an unbelievable feeling to win the Championship. Thanks to the great work of my team we've achieved this success, now I'm going to rise to the DSKM and want to attack there in 2022“, he already looked forward. Behind the two, Toni Greif (Solgat Motorsport) ended up on third place in front of Schächer and Karl Lukaschewsky (SRP Racing Team).
Final Championship ranking DSKC:
1. Jakob Bergmeister (231 points)
2. André Walter (184 points)
3. Thomas Imbourg (150 points)
4. Marvin Langenbacher (138 points)
5. Lukas Schächer (116 points)
The TB Racing Team surrounding Thomas Braumüller ended up as the best team. During the course of the year, the drivers of the Kart Republic team gathered the most points. The KSM Official Racing Team followed on second place in front of the SRP Racing Team surrounding DKM-Champion Niels Tröger.
After the season is before the season. The DKM has already been working on a racing calendar for the anniversary season 2022 for a couple of weeks. This will be presented shortly. All races of the 2021 season can be viewed by fans on the YouTube-channel of the German Kart Championship.