The IAME Euro Series reconvened at the 7 Laghi Kart track in Castelletto di Branduzzo for the third round of the season, with another race of packed grids and full of action in all the categories! Despite taking place right in the middle of the summer in Italy, and under heat reaching up to 35C, thunderstorms were a frequent threat throughout the weekend, thankfully limited to a few minutes of appearance!
The track of 7 Laghi Kart, located at the North of Italy in the region of Castelletto di Branduzzo has been a regular track at the IAME Euro Series calendar since the series’ inception. It’s well known for the warm yet unpredictable weather and the high grip levels. Once again, a large number of competitors made their appearance, with the series still at a peak high attendance for its penultimate round!
Despite all main contenders being present, the podiums were comprised of numerous new faces, with entirely new winners, demonstrating how competitive yet unpredictable the Euro Series can be. At the end of the race a former World Champion, Pedro Hiltbrand (Fusion Motorsport) took the X30 Senior win, a newcomer, Tomass Štolcermanis (Energy Corse) at topped the X30 Junior, and the series’ first ever female winner, Luna Fluxa Cross (Fusion Motorsport), was victorious in X30 Mini!
X30 Mini
A weekend full of surprises kicked off with the amazing performance of Matt Corbi (Spirit-racing.ch) topping the timesheets on Friday’s qualifying, ahead of Luna Fluxa Cross and Jesse Phillips (Oliver Rowland Motorsport), leaving the previous series leaders Roman Kamyab (Fusion Motorsport) and Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch (Fusion Motorsport) in 4th and 11th places respectively.
The qualifying heats were straightforward for Fluxa who won every single one of her races, while Rodrigo Seabra (Oliver Rowland Motorsport) won two of his own heats and Roman Kamyab the last one.
Come Sunday prefinal, the action that took place saw Ban Smith (Fusion Motorsport) take second place, David Cosma Cristofor (Gulstar Racing) third and Noah Baglin (Oliver Rowland Motorsport) making a great comeback of 15 positions to 4th and Tiziano Kuzhnini (Spirit-racing.ch) another 10 positions to 5th. This didn’t bother Fluxa much, as she lead to win once again. The final was one of the same for Fluxa who didn’t leave a single inch to her opponents, dominating the entire day and closing her weekend undefeated! Behind her however was once again a great battle, with Thomas Pradier (PB Kart) making up 18 positions to 2nd and Raul Zunazarren Perez (Monlau Competición) 10 positions to 3rd.
X30 Junior
Another category to bring surprises was the X30 Junior, as one would expect either of the winners of the first two rounds, Theofile Nael (2N Racing) and Kanato Le (Strawberry Racing) or the winner of the winter cup Bart Harrisson (Mick Barrett Racing) to be the front runners of the qualifying. However, they all failed to make the top-5, as Federico Rifai (KR-Sport) took the pole position, ahead of Antonio Apicella (Team Driver Racing Kart) and William Macintyre (Fusion Motorsport)!
While Le and Harrisson made their appearance winning a heat each, it would be their only one, classifying eventually 5th and 10th for the prefinal. Andy Ratel (KBK Competition) instead topped the classification with two wins ahead of Tomass Štolcermanis (Energy Corse) with one, and Theofile Nael.
In the prefinal Tomass Štolcermanis showed his intentions, emerging victorious just inches ahead of William Macintyre both beating Andy Ratel to the line. The final wouldn’t be much different with the three fighting to the line for the victory, and just in the last lap Štolcermanis clinching the win from Macintyre, with Ratel once again third.
X30 Senior
A record 89 drivers hit the track for the senior race, to form no less than 6 full groups, resulting in 15 qualifying heats and a second chance heat to decide the prefinal!
All eyes were probably on Callum Bradshaw and Aaron Walker of Strawberry Racing as they have been the regular front runners and the past two winners of the season, but a wet first group and drying track for the other two groups gave them no chance. In the end, it was Maximus Mayer (Fusion Motorsports) who claimed the overall pole position ahead of Clayton Ravenscroft (KR-Sport) which left Bradshaw in third!
Once again, the World Champion and Series Leader was expected to have it easy in the qualifying heats, but it was another World Champion, Pedro Hiltbrand who was unbeaten and classifying in first, with Maximus Mayer and Oliver Greenall making it a perfect top-3 for Fusion Motorsport!
Hiltbrand gave zero chances to his competitors, cruising to the win ahead of Danny Carenini (ASD Autoeuropeo Motorsport) and Greenall in the prefinal. The final was once again a cruise to the flag for Hiltbrand, as he was clear of the drama that unfolded behind him, seeing a great battle between Bradshaw, Greenall, Carenini, Eliška Bábíčková (TEPZ Racing Team), Santiago Vallve Martin (Mol Racing) and Elie Goldstein (VDK Racing). In the end it was Greenall who took the second place, and Bábíčková completing the podium with another strong new female presence in the series!
The points race after Round 3
Despite having new winners in all categories, only the mini leader has changed, as the title contenders are starting to show. Fluxa takes the lead over from Kamyab and Van’t Pad Bosch in the X30 Mini, Nael remains ahead of Le and Harrisson in X30 Junior, and Bradshaw is still in control in X30 Senior, however with Greenall undercutting Leveque and Walker.
The fourth and last race of the 2021 IAME Euro Series is scheduled to take place from August 26th to August 29th on the Karting Genk circuit in Belgium.