The second round of the Euro Series continued at Karting des Fagnes in Mariembourg, in the Wallonian region of Belgium, with 181 drivers in 3 categories, 89 in X30 Senior, 47 in X30 Junior, and 45 in X30 Mini!
Despite the initial warm weather, as is expected in Belgium there is always a chance of rain which eventually made its appearance at the end of Saturday’s qualifying but stayed away from the track for Sunday’s finals.
X30 Mini
Jesse Phillips (Fusion Motorsport) took pole position during Friday’s qualifying practice ahead of team-mate Jenson Graham (Fusion Motorsport) followed by Manuel Miguez Gayoso (Parolin Spain) and Daniel Kelleher (Fusion Motorsport) to head the 4 race heat groups respectively.
After a dominant showing all Saturday, a first lap incident in the last heat forced Jenson Graham to the middle of the pack having to fight his way back to the front. That, however, didn’t stop him from claiming an overall pole position for Sunday’s Superheats. Henry Domain (Oliver Rowland Motorsport) would claim the front start for the other Superheat.
A spectacular recovery saw Jesse Phillips climb seven positions to take the win in Superheat 1 ahead of Bosco Arias Chavarri (AC Motorsport) dropping Jenson Graham to third. In Superheat 2 Dan Alleman (Spirit-Racing.CH) got the better of Henry Domain and Arthur Hoang (Dhaese Racing).
Dan Allemann jumped to second at the start of the final, and after a 12-lap long battle with Jenson Graham and Henry Domain he eventually took the win, just ahead of Graham. This result now leaves Daniel Kelleher at the top of the championship classification, Henry Domain second, Jesse Phillips third and Dan Allemann fourth with just 5 points separating them.
X30 Junior
As the local team VDK Racing was expected to have a good showing on this track. Thibaut Ramaekers (VDK Racing) got the pole position, ahead of Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch (Fusion Motorsport). Behind them, last race’s winner Macauley Bishop (Dan Holland Racing) and Henry Joslyn (Mick Barrett Racing) completed the top-four to head the rest of the qualifying heat groups.
With a series of good qualifying heats Jules Caranta (Jana Racing) made an impressive climb from 19th position to get to first at the end of Saturday to start at the front of Superheat 1. Thibaut Ramaekers remained strong throughout the day, and despite some small setbacks would be the one to line up in front for the other Superheat.
Jules Caranta continued his strong form to win Superheat 1, while his teammate Hugo Martiniello (Jana Racing) made up 7 positions to finish right behind him. Similarly in Superheat 2 Thibaut Ramaekers would not be beaten and finished just ahead of Henry Joslyn. That meant Caranta and Ramaekers were going to fill the front row of the final.
There were several changes at the lead of the final race as Caranta took the lead earlier on, and then overtaken by Van’t Pad Bosch. But it was Ramaekers eventually getting the best of both for the second half of the race and over the finish line to claim his maiden victory, with Caranta finally taking second and Van’t Pad Bosch third.
Ramaekers now finds himself leading the championship, with Van’t Pad Bosch and Henry Joslyn closely behind in the classification.
X30 Senior
89 drivers hit the track in X30 seniors, demonstrating the consistent top-level participation in this category of the Euro Series. Evan Giltaire (VDK Racing) qualified on overall pole position in front of Arthur Poulain (Victory Lane Karting), Ariel Elkin (TBKart Racing Team SRL), Elie Goldstein (EGP Racing Team), Sam Balota (VDK Racing) and Edoardo Ludovico Villa (TBRacing Team SRL) to head the six qualifying heat groups.
After a long series of five qualifying heats per group, with the last of them even drenched in a sudden rain on Saturday afternoon, Ariel Elkin stood overall first at the end of the day. Behind him for the pole of the second Superheat would be Ruben Moya (Pantano Racing Team).
Arthur Poulain won the first Superheat of the day with a great comeback from Elie Goldstein behind him. Elkin, with problems starting his kart, ended up 17th. Evan Giltaire won the second Superheat ahead of Ruben Moya.
An eventful final saw one of the favorites, Evan Giltaire, failing to take the start due to a tire puncture on the warm-up lap, and every of the other favorites for the win overtaken one by one by Elie Goldstein who came back from 17th position to take the checkered flag! Ariel Elkin finished second and Arthur Poulain third.
Poulain now leads the championship with Giltaire second and Goldstein a close third, with the trio already having opened a large point gap to the rest of the pack despite being only on the second of four races!