Everything is ready in Portimao, Portugal, in the Algarve region, for the first of the 4 rounds of the FIA European Championship of the OK and OK Junior direct drive classes, which will take place from 7 to 10 April. After the preparatory events at the beginning of the year, now it’s time for the most important Championships of the season for International karting. The European Championships are the stepping stones for young drivers towards professionalism and the palmares won by the CRG drivers in the past editions is among the richest ones.
The CRG team will line-up 6 drivers in the 2022 Championship: 2 in OK Junior and 4 in OK Senior. Among the youngsters in the Junior category, the reference driver for CRG will be the South African Nikolas Roos, who will be joined by Francisco Macedo. Both drivers will be powered by TM engines and it should be remembered that in the Junior class the tires used will be Vega. In the OK category, on the other hand, CRG will deploy a poker of great ambitions: the Brazilians Gabriel Gomez and Olin Galli, the Swedish Viktor Gustavsson and the Spaniard Adrian Malheiro. In this category, the engines used by the CRG drivers will be Iame, while the tires will be supplied by MG.
The event program includes qualifying practice on Friday 7 April, when the first eliminatory heats are also scheduled, while Saturday will be entirely dedicated to the eliminatory heats. On Sunday, the final day of this important International meeting, 2 Super Heats are scheduled for each category and will define the starting grid for the afternoon Finals.
The target for the CRG Team will be to conquer points in view of a Championship which, in 4 rounds, will see every placement fundamental for the overall ranking.
The Live Timing service will be available to follow the action on the track starting from the free practice sessions, while on Saturday and Sunday it will also be possible to follow the races through the Live Streaming on the FIA Karting channel. Many updates from the track are also planned through CRG's social channels, together with the drivers’ comments and the most beautiful images from the track.
After the opening round in Portugal, the Series will move to Zuera in Spain on May 1, to Sweden in Kristianstad on June 5 and then will have its final round on July 10 in Italy on the Franciacorta racetrack.
CRG driver's expectations:
Olin Galli (OK): “I am very happy to take part in this important Championship and I would like to thank CRG for the trust. Last season we alternated some very good performances with some occasions where we were not competitive and my wish for this year is to be able to have continuity of results, which will be an important factor in a Championship with several appointments. I know the Portimao track well and I like it very much, just as I immediately found myself very comfortable with the CRG 2022 chassis in the tests carried out with MG tires, so I start the weekend with good premises”.
Nikolas Roos (OKJ): “The race we have attended here 15 days ago was a bit complicated for me due to the rain that fell in free practice and to some mistakes made in the heats. Surely we have not expressed our real potential or even completed the work program correctly, but I believe that if we do not have problems in the qualifying phases we can easily aim for the points and be competitive. Our technical package, also including the TM engine is good and the staff is working very well".
All information about the event is available on the official website: www.fiakarting.com