We touched down in Lisbon, Portugal on Wednesday afternoon, and drove 3 hours to Portimão. We collected the kart and the engine on Thursday afternoon and put it all back into one piece. The second round of the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy championship held in Portimão was going to be a mentally and physically tiring weekend, because the weather station forecast hot weather for the weekend.
Free practice started on Friday morning, we had 4 sessions of 20 mins track time to learn and understand how the kart reacted to the setup as the track evolved. As compared to Essay, I wasn't used to that much grip on the track. I was improving progressively, but I was averaging only midfield lap times.
Pushing hard through turn 12
At the end of the day, we decided to start a fresh, shifting the seat position, ride height and other related setup. It was quite a big work and thus, we worked till about 9:15pm before having our dinner.
On Saturday, the warm-up was pretty similar to the last practice session. We had only one chance left to change the setup for the time trial.
The 8 minutes qualifying session started and surprisingly, out of the 23 drivers in my group, only 2 went out when the green flag was waved. Slipstream has a very big effect on the timing. Slipstream is a technique used by racing drivers by following the driver in front closely on straights to have less air resistance thus having better straight line speed. We had to depend on it to get a good lap time on this fast track, as that was what determined your position for each heat. I only had probably one or two laps to get a clean run and so it was very crucial to get the right timing before starting my flying lap.
Everyone waiting patiently for someone to crack under pressure in the pre-grid
Waiting patiently
The 2 drivers have already started their first lap and with 7 minutes left on the clock, still no action from the drivers in the pre-grid. Just as the 2 drivers set their lap time and with 6 minutes left, finally, someone cracked under pressure and went out. That caused a chain reaction, and everyone was out to set a lap time.
Pushing as hard as I could
I tried to pace myself as well as I could to maximize the time left. With some luck, I managed to get two clean laps to clock a lap time of 58.886. I set the 4th fastest lap time, one and a half tenths off my group's best, and 8th overall.
4th in group 2
8th overall
I was very happy with the result, as that was actually 5 tenths faster than my free practice personal best lap time.
Our hard work paid off for working late to change the kart setup and we managed to get it right just before the qualifying. I felt comfortable with the kart and was able to feel the track with the feedback from the kart.
After some discussions on the kart setup and what to expect for the race with my mechanic and coach, Aurelien, I was ready to go and race in the first heat.
Getting geared up
Green flag. Starting on the 3rd row on the exterior, 6th on the grid, I managed to get a decent start and slot myself in the interior, protecting myself from any potential bumps to the outside. As we bunched up crossing the line to start lap 2, I placed myself in a good position, got better momentum out of the corner and overtook the 5th. Things calmed down during the next 3 laps till lap 5, where the 3rd and 4th got entangled. I saw a gap, I took the opportunity and overtook both of them and climbed up to 3rd.
Going through turn 11 on the last lap in 3rd
Weighing the kart
Giving feedback to my mechanic after the 1st heat
Heat A-B Results
As usual, the front runners were immediately called upon to change out their engines with other randomly selected academy drivers in the parc ferme as a measure to even out any engine performance advantage if there was any.
1st engine change
As for the 2nd heat, I was starting on the 3rd row on the inside, 5th on the grid, meaning I could worry less on the start. As we advanced to the start line on the formation lap out of the last corner, I managed to get a good start. I was up to 4th by turn 2. We were all bumper to bumper throughout the whole race, and I was going up and down in the battle for 3rd place. I had my final attempt down the inside for 3rd spot, but he got it back with the slipstream on the straight. I fought till the end but he got the upper hand.
Leading the battle for 3rd place
2nd engine change
Heat B-C Results
Heat Overall Results
The 10 lap prefinal awaited me on Sunday. We could already see that we were making progress compared to the first round, as I was going to start 5th in the prefinal, 6 places above my starting position in Essay, and also 6 points for the championship.
Starting on the 3rd row on the inside, 5th on the grid, I was confident to get a good result. During the formation lap, I was caught in an unfortunate incident and that caused my tie rod to bend which prevented me to restart the kart and that ended my race before it even started. I was very disappointed.
Starting 32nd for the 17 lap final, my goal was to do my best to overtake as many as I could to get as many points as possible for the championship.
Starting 32nd for the 17 lap final, my goal was to do my best to overtake as many as I could to get as many points as possible for the championship.
Starting the hunt for championship points
Every lap, I was overtaking someone and going higher and higher in the standings, and I was pushing as hard as possible. By lap 10, I was 22nd. Going through turn 12, I felt someone clip my rear bumper and I lost a bit of rear end grip. As I continued driving, I knew something was wrong. I continued for another lap. I noticed a technical flag (mechanical breakdown) as I crossed the line to start lap 11. I thought I saw my number but I wasn't sure if it was mine. I went for another lap and it was confirmed that indeed it was my number, N°529. I slowed down to let people past to avoid any more damage to the kart and entered the pits. Upon returning to the parc fermé, I discovered that the right side of my rear bumper was damaged.
From my point of view, it was a good weekend, which ended badly. The race pace was good and I had the opportunity to have a shot at least for a podium. On the positive side, I'm happy to see my progress so far in this international championship. Seeing myself in the top 5 for the heats was a big accomplishment and a confidence boost for me. As far as I'm concerned, I'll try to use this weekend to learn from it to get better results in my future races.
I'd like to thank the organizers, race officials, marshals, Aurélien, my friends, my parents and everyone that supported me throughout the weekend. I'll make sure to use the experience gained as a stepping stone to do even better in Sweden!
