James Wharton's first ever participation in the FIA Karting European Championship in KZ2, where he was one of the youngest entrants, was a particularly positive experience. In Germany, his high level of performance enabled him to compete with much more experienced drivers. From Qualifying to the Final, the Australian from the Ferrari Driver Academy was able to progress to cross the finish line in a convincing 8th position.

The 2021 European KZ2 Championship is being contested over two events and James Wharton didn't really know what to expect when he arrived at the Wackersdorf circuit. "This season the main focus is to have a great season in OK and I am working very hard for that," commented James. "As a result, I couldn't prepare as well as I would have liked for this race. I have only raced two KZ2 events so far this year, which were in Italy in March and April. However, there is a lot to learn, with the gearbox, the front brakes, the standing starts and the race strategy. It's all different from the OK. Nevertheless, I quickly got a good feeling at the beginning of the meeting. I was one of the three fastest drivers in the first Free Practice session on Friday morning. In the end I ended up 19th in the official Qualifying session out of a total of 95 drivers, the fastest in the Parolin Motorsport team."

Fast lap times

James Wharton had a long and difficult journey ahead of him in the five Qualifying Heats. In spite of constant duels in a hot and humid field, the Australian managed to be fast and consistent: 12th in the first heat, then 10th in the next four. This rewarding performance put him in 26th position in the overall standings."I think I had the possibility to do even better, but I was not really satisfied with my starts on this rather narrow track where it is not easy to find your place in the string of turns that follow the straight. I often lost precious places on the first lap. Fortunately, I was able to do better and better as the laps went by. In two heats, I set the 2nd fastest lap in the race, which allowed me to constantly move up the rankings."

His best start of the meeting, and the Parolin Motorsport driver had the good sense to achieve it in the Final. "This time I got off to a pretty good start, then a collision occurred in the first corner. I had a good intuition and chose the best side of the track to avoid the drivers who were in trouble. I gained more than 10 places in one go and then I continued to attack as hard as I could. I passed a few more drivers and managed to take the chequered flag in 8th position. In this difficult context, this is a good result. With the Parolin team and Galiffa Kart, my engine builder, we did a great job of development during the whole meeting. And with my team-mates, we pushed each other and that pulled us up. It's motivating before the second round of the European Championship which will take place in mid-August in Adria, Italy. By then, I will have the opportunity to get back to my OK kart for other challenges."