On the Spanish circuit of Campillos, the Racer 401 T is fast and competitive in both categories. After the strong performances shown throughout the weekend, in the two finals the Racing Team down not gain the results within its reach.
A week after the first round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series, ended with a victory in the ‘Junior’ category, the Tony Kart Racing Team is back fighting in Campillos (Spain) for the opening round of the FIA Karting European Championship for OK-OKJ. The Tony Kart Racer 401 T, together with the Vortex VTS (OK) and VTJ (OKJ) engines of the OTK Kart Group's ‘engine division’, proves to have the necessary pace to compete at the top of the rankings in both categories.
In OKJ class, just after last week's victory, Ilie Tristan Crisan comes to the starting grid of the category as the driver to beat. After finishing his free practice session with the best time, the Canadian driver takes the second place in Group 1 of the qualifying session and ends with a win a third place and a fastest lap on Friday. On Saturday, jumped with the best time in his warm-up, Crisan achieves a second position in the first heat of the day, while in the next two he finishes first, although he is penalised by the stewards after the race. Their driver does not let up: in the super heat A he finishes in the top-5 and earns the fastest lap of the race, while he recovers a good 9 positions in the final, which also ends with the absolute best lap, confirming the high competitiveness of the technical package.
It is a positive debut for Nikita Ljubimov in the FIA Karting European Championship. The Estonian driver, second in the Friday's free practices, achieves two fourth places as best results in the qualifying heats and enters the Sunday afternoon's final. Julian Frasnelli also competes in the last race of the weekend, after showing off in the heats with a third place and two fastest laps.
Mateo Rivals shows to be consistent and fast throughout the event, despite his limited knowledge of the Spanish circuit compared to the rest of the competitors. Good results also cme from Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi, able to set a fast lap. Also making their debut in a FIA Karting event are Oliveri Sini and Henri-Constant Kumpen.
In OK category, also moved by the second best time achieved in the Friday morning's free practices, Thomas Pradier precedes everyone in Group 3 of the qualifying heats, thanks to a chrono time of 1:03.487, and achieves a victory and two top-3s in the next qualifying heats. Having achieved a valuable fifth place in the Super Heat B, the French driver starts the Sunday afternoon's final from the fourth row: at the starting grid he holds his position firmly and remains in the running for a top result. At the end of the 19 scheduled laps, Pradier finishes in the top ten.
With a brilliant performance gained at the COTF and a third place in free practices, Jindřich Pešl misses the first position in Group 1 of the heats for just 36 thousandths of a second, taking home a victory in the qualifying heats. However, the Czech driver fails to make his performance successful in the final. In his second race with the official Tony Kart colours, Gino Rocchio shows an excellent pace on Sunday and climbs 13 positions in the final. Oliver Rasmussen is working hard with the team in view of the upcoming events.
The drivers of the Tony Kart Racing Team’s OK and OKJ categories will be back on track in three weeks’ time, on the occasion of the second round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series in Portimão, Portugal (23rd – 26th April).