The FIA Karting European Championship got underway in Spain for the OK and OK-Junior categories. Dry weather accompanied the competitors for four days. The drivers positioned on the front row in the Final and equipped with KR chassis experienced racing incidents and were unfortunately unable to confirm their competitiveness. While Joe Turney scored important points in the OK Championship, where he finished 2nd, Bosco Arias (DPK Racing) put in a brilliant finish in OK-Junior to climb to 3rd place on the podium.
KR performs well in OK and OK-Junior
After the excellent results recorded on the opening day of the Champions of the Future Euro Series in Valencia, the teams competing with the KR chassis continued to discover the new Maxxis tyres. As for the drivers, there were plenty who showed they were capable of climbing onto the podium. The competition was fierce, however, and the battles on the Lucas Guerrero International Circuit were intense. In both categories, there were plenty of positives to take away...
A good result for Turney in the overall OK rankings
With his three heat wins and success in the Super Heat, Joe Turney (KR Motorsport) was aiming for victory. Unfortunately, a collision with another driver caused him to lose contact with the leader. His equipment was damaged in the incident and the Briton was only able to secure 4th place, synonymous with 2nd position in the provisional European Championship. Thibaut Ramaekers (VDK Racing) was just a few lengths behind, but kept up a strong pace to climb back up to 5th place. A fine performance considering that the Belgian was only 19th on the first lap!
Luna Fluxa-Cross (Prema Racing) confirmed the great progress she had made in the Champions of the Future Euro Series with a brilliant rise from 21st to 11th place in the Final. Dmitry Matveev (KR Motorsport) finished just behind. Fionn MacLaughlin (VDK Racing) could have hoped for a better result than 15th had he not been involved in a collision in the Super Heat. Taym Saleh (Sauber Academy) put in some encouraging Qualifying runs, Luviwe Sambudla (KR Motorsport) gained 12 places in the Final and David Cosma Cristofor (Cetilar Racing) rounded off the top 20 in the Final after an excellent Super Heat. In OK, the KR Motorsport team is currently 2nd in the Team Championship.
First podium in OK-Junior for Bosco Arias
Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing) put in a faultless and impressive performance in both the heats and the Super Heat, with six consecutive wins. Unfortunately, the Austrian was unable to build on his pole position in the Final, as a collision forced him to retire. His team-mate Bosco Arias, who had already won one heat, took over the podium, and it was in the final lap that he clinched 3rd place. Three other KR-IAME teams finished in the top 10, all of them gaining places from their starting positions: Noah Baglin (KR Motorsport) finished P6 just ahead of team-mate Daniel Kelleher and Thomas Pradier (Victory Lane).
Iacopo Martinese (KR Motorsport) made an incisive start to the race but had to settle for 11th place ahead of Arjen Kraeling (+10 places!) and Dean Hoogendoorn (AKM Motorsport), who set the fastest lap of the race. Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (+8), Jensen Burnett (+2) and Gianmatteo Rousseau (+10) climbed to 18th, 19th and 21st respectively. P5 in Timed Qualifying and P7 at the chequered flag in the final, Kenzo Craigie (Prema Racing) was finally penalised in the Final. James Anagnostiasdis (Prema Racing), who was in the top 15 in the Final, was forced to retire.
A comment from Dino Chiesa, Head of KR Global Motorsport Company
"Competition is always a challenge. We knew that this first round of the European Championship would be difficult, and that's exactly what happened. The whole team worked hard to find the best compromise with the new Maxxis tyres. We demonstrated our ability to perform well and a number of drivers equipped with KR chassis battled it out at the front. In the Final, the facts of the race were not particularly favourable to us, but that's all part of the game and we must congratulate our rivals on their success. The Val d'Argenton circuit hasn't been used in FIA Karting for many, many years and the next competition will be full of unknowns. Our objective remains the same: to win, and we're going to continue our efforts to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.”