Text & photos: www.rotax-kart.com
Micro MAX
Micro MAX started their day with a 1:09.642 seconds set by Christian Costoya Sanabri, Salvador Trindade was second and Enzo Nienkotter was third. Their Prefinal saw Macauley Bishop start from Pole position with Griffin Peebles alongside. Bishop got off to a good start but was overtaken by Peebles on lap two. Peebles continued to lead lap two and three before Adam Brickley overtook him. Despite a challenge on lap 6 from Enzo Nienkotter, Brickley was able to take the win from Urwin who made up eight places to finish second and Jaxson Burns third.
Mini MAX
The Mini MAX warm-up was topped by Andy Ratel who set a 1:05.384 seconds. He was followed by Simon Kristensen in second and Adrian Malheiro Sune in third. Their Prefinal saw Ratel starting in Pole position with Malheiro Sune on Position two. Ratel held the lead for the first few laps but was challenged by both Raccamier and Thien. Raccamier led for the majority of the race until he was overtaken by Thien on lap eight. On the final lap with Thien leading, Raccamier attempted a late overtake into turn nine causing both drivers to run wide and handing the victory to Ratel.
Junior MAX
In the odd-numbered warm-up, it was Lucas Bohdanowicz (1:01.338) who led the field from Filip Jenic and Vigor Hjorvard. In the even-numbered warm-up, Beau Pronesti went fastest ahead of Gregorio Bertocco and Hitoshi Sakai.
In the Prefinal A, Osborne was on pole. The race was red-flagged due to an incident at turn two before being re-started a few minutes later. Oli Pylka took the lead from the outside row until Hugh Barter got into a scrap for first place with the lead changing many times, but it was Pylka who took the win, Barter second just 0.136 seconds behind and a great final lap for Fedor Bykonya put him into third.
The final race of the day for the Junior MAX was the PreFinal B where Charlie Wurz lined up on row one with Sacha Maguet. Wurz got off to a good start and led convincingly for the first seven laps. During this, Jason Leung, who had started on position four, was making up places and closed in on the Austrian. On lap eight, Leung took the lead, Wurz unable to find a way past. A battle for Sacha Maguet throughout the race saw him finish third.
Senior MAX
The odd-numbered Senior MAX warm-up was led by Patrick Rundquist who set a time of 1:00.408 seconds. Vincent France was second and Titus-Shanghai Schmidli was third. The even-number practice was topped by Cody Gillis with a 1:00.378 seconds over Oakley Pryer and Bence Valint.
The PreFinal A grid had France on Pole position with Pryer alongside. Clayton Ravenscroft and Elia Galvanin on row two. France led the first two laps before Pryer took over and Axel Charpentier moved through to second. Ravenscroft and Guy Cunnington then worked together to reel in Pryer and fought for the lead for the next eight laps. The race finished with Ravenscroft winning and Cunnington 0.106 seconds behind in second and Pryer in third making it a British Top Three.
The last Senior MAX race of the day was Final B led by Axel Saarniala, Ryan Norberg and Rhys Hunter, who got off to the best start, followed by Norberg. The pair worked together to pull a gap over third-placed Aleksander Bardas to avoid a slipstream effect. This worked well and on the final lap, Norberg attempted to pass Hunter. At turn two with both frontrunners going wheel to wheel but Norberg couldn’t quite complete the job. Hunter won the race from Norberg and Lachlan Robinson in third.
DD2 Masters
In the first practice session for DD2 Masters, Primoz Matelic (59.709) was quickest from Jari Koivisto and Jan Andreasen. The second group followed with Fernando Guzi setting the fastest time (59.985), Nicholas Verheul in second and Luis Ignacio Valenzuela in third. Antti Ollikainen led from Pole position for the DD2 Masters Pre-final A. On lap one, Henrijs Grube took the lead with Ollikainen close behind. Grube led for the next six laps until Rudy Champion past him and went on to take the win. Grube knew the winner was not a threat to his finals chances and remained second with Troy Bretherton on third. The best lap was set by Derek Wang (59.570).
After an outstanding week, Ollikainen was not classified in the Prefinal after an issue during the race resulted in the kart not complying with the technical regulations. He was ranked 38th overall which means he will not make the Final on Saturday. PreFinal B started with Matias Rodriguez on Pole position with Eriks Gasparovics on P2. Rodriguez got a flying start from the inside row to take the lead over Gasparovics and several laps later, Roberto Pesevski made his move for second place and held it for the remained of the race. With no further changes in the Top Three, Rodriguez took the win from Pesevski who both set their best time in the final lap but the Austrian was fastest. Gasparovics finished third.
DD2
The odd-numbered warm-up session was topped by Jonathon Marcusson with 59.136 seconds, Alejandro Lahoz Lopez second and Maxi Fleischmann was third. The even-numbers Matias Milla went fastest with 58.908 seconds from Christos Oikonomou and Daniel Machacek. The Pole position for Prefinal A was Petr Bezel and French champion Nicolas Picot on grid position two. Picot got the better start and led the first few laps before Bezel in the n°445 kart took the lead for the following five laps. Picot managed to pass him and go on to take the victory ahead of Bezel and Machacek in third, he started on grid 11.
Pre-Final B saw Luca Munaretto on pole beside Lucas Joly, but it was Xen De Ruwe who had an excellent start coming from fourth to first. After seven laps, the Italian based Munaretto retook the lead and was unable to be beaten to the chequered flag. De Ruwe was to second and Alejandro Lahoz Lopez took third place having started in ninth.
Rotax THUNDeR (DEKM)
Bradley Barrett set the fastest lap (1:05.547) in the morning practice followed by Jort Coone with a 1:05.649 seconds and Jie Kao in third with a 1:05.711 seconds. Practice 2 before Qualifying was again led by Barrett (1:04.652) with Coone in second (1:04.746) and Ryan Mills just behind in third with a time of 1:04.793 seconds. Qualifying was topped by Luka Wloemer whose best time was a 1:04.735 seconds. Just 0,07 seconds behind came Jasin Ferati with a 1:04.805, Kao completed the top three with a 1:05.895.
The last race of the day was the Rotax THUNDeR karts Prefinal 2 and it was Ferati who got into the lead and remained unchallenged until the end. The Championchip leader Wloemer crossed the line in second, followed by guest driver Kao from Taiwon in third. Ferati also set the fastest lap of the race (1:04.677).
Follow the next Qualifying Heats of the 20th Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals here!
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