Text & photos: www.rotax-kart.com
Micro MAX
Micro MAX kicked off the day on track as Christian Costoya Sanabri was fastest for the majority of the warm-up with a time of 1:10.383 seconds but a brilliant final lap which included the fastest first sector of Raul Luis Martinez put him into the top spot (1:10.065).
Heat 2 started with Thiago Falivene on Pole position alongside Ben Maier on the front row. After an accident brought out the SLOW boards, all the drivers bunched up ready for the re-start on lap 3. Costoya Sanabri led the way with Enzo Nienkotter close behind, who soon took the lead. Griffin Peebles was in third, followed by Macauley Bishop, Salvador Trindade, and Jay Urwin. With a gap of nearly half a second, it looked like the leading two were safe. However, a brilliant couple of laps from Bishop up to third and Trindade in fourth enabled the pair to close the gap. On the final lap, Bishop made a last-minute lunge to take the lead momentarily before running wide, changing the order of the front pack and seeing him fall to fourth, Trindade claiming the win with Falivene in second and Urwin third. After the race, Urwin received a front fairing penalty of five seconds pushing him back to 18th place and promoting Bishop up one spot.
Mini MAX
Once again, it was Andy Ratel (1:05.597) leading the way in the Mini MAX warm-up, Alvar Siimesvaara (1:05.733) second fastest and then came Karel Schulz (1:05.768). The Heat 2 provided action every lap with Ratel off Pole position. The dicing between Costa Toparis and Raphael Rennhofer saw Toparis make a great pass for the lead and Ratel demoted to sixth. Next lap, Jolan Raccamier showed up second trailed by Jayden Thien, as the Heat 1 winner also found his way into first, leading Adrian Malheiro Sune and Ratel. With positions constantly being shuffled around, it was the pole-man who secured the victory on the sixth and final lap, Toparis in second and Malheiro Sune classified third after Thien fell to 16th with a drop-down bumper penalty.
Junior MAX
The first warm-up session for the Juniors was led by the odd-numbered 231 of Lucas Bohdanowicz who posted a time of 1:01.641 seconds on the final lap. He was followed by the n°251 kart of Noam Abramczyk (1:01.754) and Lucas Da Silva Mendes (1:01.776). The even numbers were next with Felipe Bernasconi (1:01.147) going fastest, then Hitoshi Sakai (1:01.362) and Tomass Stolcermanis (1:01.376).
A+C Heat
The first heat for Junior MAX had Clay Osborne on pole with Hugh Barter joining him on row 1 and Hitoshi Sakai following in third. A great start from the Japanese driver put him into the lead from Osborne and Kris Haanen. On lap 2, Osborne was up in first again as the order of his closest rivals changed right up until the final stages. Aqil Alibhai and Euro Trophy winner Mike Van Vugt in eigth and ninth lost their Top Ten-positions in a scuffle and resumed rear of the field. Meanwhile, Hannen swapped places with Sakai moments before the flag, separated by Barter in third. Later, the two juniors received a five-second fairing penalty and lost several positions, moving Barter up to second and Beau Pronesti third.
B+D Heat
Charlie Wurz was on pole next to Schu Dozonom, the Austrian leading for the first few laps until Sami-Joe Abi Nakhle passed him. Wurz didn’t settle for second though and re-took the lead on lap 4 with Oli Pylka grabbing second and first the next time around. The Top Three continued for the remaining laps with Pylka taking the win from Abi Nakhle, although a time penalty confirmed Luca Mars runner-up and Wurz third.
A+D Heat
With Osborne on pole, Dozono struggled to hold his front-row place and fell down to fifth. Mike Van Vugt momentarily snatched the lead before Osbourn took it back, only to see Oli Plyka leading by half-race distance after a brave move into turn 10. 12-year old Tomass Stolcermanis was fastest. The n°217 of Van Vugt was right on Pylka’s rear bumper for the final two laps getting ready to make his move. However, Osbourn had managed to catch up and dive down the inside of both of them, as all three drivers battled continuously. With Osborne ahead on the final lap, Van Vugt and Pylka came together, dropping them down to fifth and ninth. The remaining minor placings went to Marcel Surmacz and Sacha Maguet.
B+C Heat
With Wurz back on pole and Barter off second in the last Junior MAX heat of the day, Abi Nakhle desperate to make up for the penalty earlier stole second and Troy Dolinschek in third, while Barter tumbled to P15. On lap 4, Abi Nakhle overtook Wurz as a four-way battle for the lead formed between them, including Leung and Miska Kaskinen. A pass by Leung for first and the victory also resulted in Wurz moving up to second and Abi Nakhle in third.
Senior MAX
The odd-numbered warm-up was led by Jace Denmark-Gessel who set a time of 1:00.444 seconds against Charl Michael Visser (1:00.536) and Daniel Vasile (1:00.615). The even-numbers were led by Kivi Kairo (1:00.652) with Koeberl Stephan (1:00.658) next quickest and Cunha Joao (1:00.705) third.
A+C Heat
In the initial race of the day for Senior MAX, it was Elia Galvanin who started on pole, Norberg alongside him with Vasile and Fourquemin behind on row 2. The race for the front saw each of the four drivers leading at some point until Norberg overtook Fourquemin on lap 5 to go on for the win with Galvanin in third.
B+D Heat
Vincent France lined up with Guillaume Treillard De Qu for the second Senior MAX heat. The pole- man led with Oakley Pryer second and Axel Saarniala in third. India’s Shahan Ali Mohsin joined the front- runners swapping positions throughout the race. On the final lap, Guy Cunnington caught Ali Mohsin and Pryer in sector 2, passing them both to secure third place. Saarniala won the race comfortably by 3.245 seconds ahead of France.
A+D Heat
Elia Galvanin led the pack away followed by Daniel Vasile and Yuga Furutain in the next Qualifying Heat. On lap 1, Guillaume Treillard De Qu moved into the Top Three, as did Cody Gillis shadowed by Axel Saarniala and Rhys Hunter. With three laps to go, Gillis was leading until the last lap when contact changed the finishing order, leaving Saarniala victorious, Hunter second and Vasile promoted to third after Galvanin received a penalty.
B+C Heat
The final Senior heat started with Vincent France leading the way from the experienced Ryan Norberg in second. Clayton Ravenscroft was pushing hard and took the lead ahead of Norberg, as the US driver diced with the Brit for first. Fourquemin briefly led as well but Ravenscroft fought back to take the win from Fourquemin (2nd), Pryer (third) and France (fourth).
DD2 Masters
In the odd-numbered session, Primoz Matelic was the only driver to break the one-minute barrier to finish first with a 59.882. Horacio Torres was 2nd (1:00.041) and Carl Cleirbaut in 3rd (1:00.053). The even numbers followed with Arto Savenius going fastest with a time of 59.850 followed by Nicholas Verheul (59.865) and Leonard Nienkotter (59.916).
A+C Heat
In the A+C Heat for the DD2 Masters, Roberto Pesevski was on Pole position with Verheul alongside him, third was Henrijs Grube and Savenius on grid row 4. The race got underway with Pesevski able to maintain his lead over Grube and Eriks Gasparovics. On lap 7, Grube hunted Pesevski down and moved into first which was amplified by a mistake at turn 2 that left the Austrian champ fending off Rudy Champion in third and six-tenths behind the leader. On the final lap, Champion passed Pesevski to finish second, while Grube won by 1.252 seconds.
B+D Heat
In the second race of the day for DD2 Masters, it was Antti Ollikainen who led the field away from pole, chased by Argentinian champion Matias Rodriguez and Rodrigo Eckholt in third. Ollikainen remained unchallenged for the whole race, expanding his advantage and setting fastest lap (59.558) at the last minute. Rodriguez remained second with Eckholt in third and Joao Oliveira fourth. Troy Bretherton made up five places to finish a strong fifth.
Heat A+D
Pole-sitter Pesevski was overtaken by Rodriguez in the opening lap of the third heat before Grube shot to the front and began posting some faster lap times. Bretherton managed to find a way past Pesevski for third on lap 5 and started his recovery to catch up with the leaders. There was a change up front with Rodriguez as the pair stretched to two second-gap without having to worry about Bretherton catching them. The win went to Rodriguez with Grube second and Bretherton in third. Pesevski slid down the order to ninth at the flag.
B+C Heat
The final DD2 Masters’ heat was led by Ollikanien then Verheul in second. Just as before, the Finn was out front and Primoz Matelic moved into second, with Verheul falling to 23rd. Matelic soon overtook Ollikanien and Eckholt in third place was 0.975 seconds behind the leader. On lap 6, Ollikanien re-took the lead to secure his win from the Slovenian Master, while Savenius moved into third and was replaced by Champion in third the following lap. Verheul continued to make progress through the race finishing 15th with the fastest lap (59.716).
DD2
The odd-numbered DD2 started the morning off with Freddie Carlsson (59.194 secs) setting the fastest time ahead of Jonathan Thomas (59.472) and Niklas Graenz (59.490). The even-numbered session was led by Matias Milla with a time of 59.030 seconds followed by Ruan Belizario (59.215) and Max Jaeger (59.250) ranking third.
The first heat Thursday for DD2 started with Petr Bezel sharing row 1 with Nicolas Picot. The Frenchman had a great start to take the lead and Bezel followed. Alejandro Lahoz Lopez also had a great start moving up five places to take third. With Bezel pushing hard to find a way past, Picot was not backing off either and set the best time (58.936) on lap 6. Bezel, racing his 10th annual RMCGF continued to push but couldn’t find a way through. It was Picot taking the race win from Bezel and Lahoz Lopez for some vital points for the Pre-final grid.
B+D Heat
RMC International Trophy 2019 winner Luca Munaretto lined up on Pole position with Lucas Joly alongside him. The South African now living in Italy led the race from start to finish as the battle for second raged on. Kacper Bielecki managed to get past Joly at the start for second. Sam Waddell and Dzianis Slavinski found a way past and reached the Top 5. Waddell pushing hard to catch Bielecki, clocked the fastest lap (59.157) and overtook him for second on lap 7. Bielecki returned the favor overtaking Waddell back for second where he would finish.
A+D Heat
The heat started with Bezel back on pole next to Joly. Great start from Trolese put him into the lead with Bexel close behind followed by Prunonosa who was out of the picture down in P22 by lap 3. Once Bezel regained the lead, he extended his advantage to six tenths but it was Daniel Machacek who overtook Joly in search of Bezel. The Austrian had much more pace so was catching Bezel quickly and passed him. Yet, with Machacek defending on turn 2 in the final lap, Bezel took the outside line and drove around him. A failed attempt to pass again at turn 9 resulted in Bezel winning the race with Machacek second and Joly third.
B+C Heat
The very last heat of the day saw Munaretto on Pole position alongside Picot, with Bielecki and Viiliainen making up the second row. In a messy turn 1, Munaretto ran wide giving Waddell a chance to take the lead with Jonathon Marcusson up to second. Munaretto was on a mission to regain first place and did so on lap 5, lunging down the inside of turn 9. Just over the halfway mark and Picot was in second ahead of Viiliainen and Xen De Ruwe in fourth. Picot passed Munaretto for P1, however, the race was red-flagged on lap 9 due to an issue on the track. The race was classified as of lap 8, meaning Picot should be the winner, but a five second-bumper penalty hands Munaretto to victory and Villiainen is second.
Rotax THUNDeR (DEKM)
It was Jasin Ferati who posted the fastest time (1:04.551) in the morning warm-up followed by Bradley Barrett (1:04.773 secs) and series leader Luke Wloemer (1:04.878 secs). The first Final for the weekend with a standing start for the Rotax THUNDeR class saw Barrett immediately take the lead with Ferati in second and then Wloemer. The Swiss driver was pushing to close the three-tenths gap to the leader and on lap 4 managed to get close enough to move into first. Barrett and Ferati fought wheel-to-wheel for the next couple of laps which allowed guest driver Jie Kao from Taiwan and Wloemer to make up some ground but it wasn’t quite enough. Finally, on lap 6, Barrett was able to re-take the lead and go on to win the race from Ferati only 0.235 seconds behind.
Follow the next Qualifying Heats of the 20th Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals here!
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