The 1198m of the International Angerville circuit was new to most drivers in the 2019 FIA ​​Karting European Championship – OK & Junior. Warm sunshine bathed the track on Friday which was devoted to the last Free practices followed by Qualifying from 15:30. As the temperature kept on rising slightly over the timed sessions, performance tended to follow a reverse curve. However, the phenomenon remained limited with very close lap times between the protagonists.

OK

Crowned FIA Karting World Champion in 2016 at the introduction of the OK category, Pedro Hiltbrand (CRG/IAME) was visibly delighted to have been the fastest in the Qualifying Practices at Angerville: “It has been a long time since I have managed a Pole position! It’s always a good way to start a competition. Of course, the road is still long and it will be necessary to negotiate the Qualifying Heats first. The heat does not bother me especially and I could see during the preliminary tests that the LeCont tires did not seem to suffer either. We will be able to attack without reservations.”

With a time of 48.795 seconds, Hiltbrand beat Dexter Patterson (KR/IAME) by 12/1000 of a second and Juho Valtanen (Redspeed/IAME) by 14/1000. To complete the top five, Taylor Barnard (KR/IAME) and Gabriele Mini’ (Parolin/TM) remained within a tenth.

Click here for the full OK Qualifying classification.

OK-Junior

Macéo Capietto (KR/IAME) finally outperformed all of his rivals by achieving the fastest time in OK-Junior in the first group. Credited with an excellent 50.778 seconds, Capietto clinched the first pole position of his young career, 7/1000 of a second ahead of James Wharton (FA Kart/Vortex). In 3rd place, Alexander Dunne (Tony Kart/Vortex) was 39/1000 behind. Tuuka Taponen (Redspeed/IAME) and Artem Severiukhin (Tony Kart/Vortex) finished close to them to complete the top five. In the almost summer heat, the Junior Drivers may have suffered more than their Vega tires. As stated by the poleman at the press conference, the Qualifying Heats are expected to be highly contested with several seeds needing to recover before the Final.

“I am very happy to have managed to take pole position. My opponents slightly lowered the pace in the last lap and I took the opportunity to continue to attack. I was fortunate to have a little slipstream and that’s it! I know it will be difficult tomorrow in the heats because the field is very tough. However, I intend to take advantage of my position on the front row and my knowledge of the track to stay at the forefront,” said Macéo Capietto.

Click here for the full Junior Qualifying classification.

Event schedule

Saturday08:00 – 09:25 Warm-up
09:30 – 18:20 Qualifying Heats
18:40 – 19:10 Press Conference
Sunday09:00 – 10:25 Warm-up
10:30 – 12:25 Qualifying Heats
13:50 – 14:15 Junior Final
14:50 – 15:20 OK Final 
15:35 – 16:05 Press Conference

Report: KSP reportages

Editing: Guillaume Alvarez

Photos: KSP reportages