High temperatures, a blue sky, and a dry track gave the participants of the FIA Karting European Championship – OK/Junior ideal conditions entering the Qualifying Series that unfolded this Saturday afternoon on the Le Mans International Karting, home of the fourth and final round of 2019.
Against all odds, Martinius Stenshorne (FA Kart / Vortex) locked up the overall-fastest performance as soon as the first of four Series with a lap completed in 52.883 seconds. The Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver preceded his teammate Ugo Ugochukwu (FA Kart / Vortex) who also showed the extent of his pace in the Second Series but came close behind (0.024).
The season standings’ current leader Marcus Amand (Kosmic / IAME) concluded his day with the third-best lap time (+0.040) followed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR / IAME), Connor Zilisch (Tony Kart / Vortex), Conrad Laursen (FA Kart / Vortex), Arvid Lindblad (Exprit / TM), himself followed by Alexander Dunne (Tony Kart / Vortex), Nikita Bedrin (Tony Kart / Vortex), currently fifth in the class standings, and James Wharton (Parolin/TM) completing the Top Ten. Amongst the title contenders (fourth on equal points with Bedrin), Jamie Day (Exprit / Vortex) finished his Qualifying with the 11th best lap.
Currently third in the points standings, Tuukka Taponen (Redspeed / IAME) took the 23rd time. Second to Amand in the title chase, Thomas Ten Brinke (FA Kart / Vortex) couldn’t do better than 63rd overall after failing to maximize his track time during the third Qualifying Series, resulting in a difficult start of the weekend for the Dutchman.
Schedule
| Saturday | 08:00 – 09:40 Warm-up 10:05 – 18:40 Qualifying Heats 14:00 – 14:45 Lunch Break 19:00 – 19:30 Press Conference |
| Sunday | 09:00 – 10:40 Warm-up 11:05 – 13:00 Qualifying Heats 13:55 – 14:40 Lunch Break 14:55 – 15:20 Final 16:35 Press Conference |
How to follow the event?
Like for every event in the FIA Karting calendar, The Racebox provides you with a special page featuring live timing and live streaming plus our daily reports and social publications to keep you up to date with the results and info from Le Mans!
Text: Guillaume Alvarez
Photos: Alex Vernardis
