After taking a flight to Copenhagen on Monday, and waiting impatiently to go to Kristianstad, after an hour drive with the beautiful Scandinavian scenery and weather, we arrived at the recently renovated Asum Ring on Thursday.
The weather was a lot more pleasant than in Portimão, forecast at a constant 21°C with a breeze of wind for the whole weekend.
Once again collecting the Academy Exprit chassis and the Vortex DDJ engine, we managed to get it up and running early, allowing us to go to the hotel and rest early to prepare for Friday.
Going out on the track for the first time, I immediately noticed that the track was a lot grippier than I expected. I had really underestimated this track compared to Portimão, and with this tight and twisty track it didn't get any better in terms of physical demand, being the most difficult track I had faced so far.
Going out for the first time
Coming back to the parc-fermé after learning the track, I was about 1 second off the pace. After chatting with the other drivers, it turns out that many of them came here to practice before the race, due to the lack of practice sessions compared to Portugal, we had only three 15 minute sessions to get our driving and setup sorted out.
We tweaked a few things here and there on the kart, and I went back out for the second session. I improved by 6 tenths, which was decent, but still had more room for improvement to be competitive. We were making progress but we weren't fast enough to be able to fight in the front so we were hoping for another improvement for the 3rd session.
We watched the GoPro footage to check what I was doing wrong on the track because 9 tenths was really puzzling. Nothing seemed very wrong, no major mistakes. It was only until someone overtook me in the video, and we watched his line, trying to analyse what was wrong. The most mind-boggling part was that I was taking the same racing line as him yet he was pulling away on the exit of almost every corner. We tried a few other changes to try and acheive a better time, but I felt like my times were blocked by a magical barrier each lap in the 52.6 region. It didn't really make sense to me as I was pushing as hard as I could.
Pushing hard in attempt for a better lap time
I wasn't comfortable with me not improving that session as it meant that I wasted a session of practice, but it was too late to think backwards, I had to think about the time trial.
With 8 minutes to clock a lap time, all I had to do was get one super lap, that sounded simple, right? At least to me it was. As the green flag was waved, the hunt began. Even with the new tyres, I just couldn't improve with my lap time. Even following a faster kart and slip streaming didn't help at all.
Aiming for the late apex
Minimizing steering wheel angle
I could only settle with 35th overall, which wasn't very surprising considering that I didn't improve my lap time since the 2nd practice session.
Starting 24th and 23rd respectively for the heats A-B and B-C, I had to try and make up places, but with that pace disadvantage it was definitely going to be difficult.
Drivers briefing
Waiting in pregrid
During heat A-B, I had decent start, and was up to 22nd by lap 2. Sadly, my spree stopped there and with my lack of grip still present, I dropped back into 23rd and finished in that position.
Fending off the 24th
I put all my effort once again for heat B-C, but it was still not enough to make a big difference to improve my position with my pace.
Giving it my all
With the chaos around me, I had to make use of these opportunities to rack up positions, and I managed to get past a few drivers and managed to finish in 19th.
What could have been improved?
After looking at the qualifying heats overall results, I took a deep breath. This was the first time in my life that I had to go to second chance. This is the first time that I've had to mention this because never have I been into second chance before.
We reached the track very early on Sunday to prepare for the 2nd chance warm up. As this was the first time for me in the 2nd chance race, I was told that it would be a lot crazier than a normal race. Only the top 6 drivers from the 2nd chance race would proceed to join the qualifiers in the pre-final and final. The red lights went out, and that marked the start of the race. With 9 laps to fend them off, I was extremely underpaced through the corners compared to the others and all I could do then was to stay strong and defend with what I had. As each lap went by, everyone was bunching up closer and closer behind me waiting impatiently for me to crack under pressure.
Fending them off in the early stage
Having managed to stay in the top six throughout the race, I felt the pressure of 5 other karts looking to overtake me to secure the last place to be in the final. I defended this position with everything I had, as we entered the 2nd sector in the last lap together with all the possible overtaking sections. Lee, the Korean boy right behind me in 7th, went for a daring wheel to wheel move even though I partially closed the door. He got the move done and with my slow exit, the rest took the opportunity to pass me and I dropped to 9th. I had to continue because anything could happen in these last 5 corners. As the 6th blocked through the snail turn, the 7th managed to get a better exit by maximizing the width of the track. As they went side by side, one made way and went into the grass. I was up to 8th. There was fierce fighting in the last few corners with four karts bumper to bumper and... I couldn't regain the last spot to qualify for the final. I was very disappointed...
Or was I?
Turns out that the 6th and 7th were penalized and that promoted me to 6th. We got the news 30 minutes before the prefinal. We had the kart all dismantled and we were cleaning and prepared to return the kart to the academy. With the kind help from 2 other mechanics Kaio and Takatsu, Renan, my dad and my mechanic Aurélien, they managed to get the kart ready just before the prefinal. A huge thank you to them. Here's a video of them getting the kart ready for the prefinal.
Sorry for the vertical recording haha
I was very glad to make it through the top 34 to at least complete the weekend. Though I wasn't able to fight in the front I still raced to my best.
Warming up before of the prefinal
During the start, there was a gap in the interior and I went for it as it was safer than on the outside, gaining a place. Having to follow the train during the next couple of laps of chaos, I managed to take advantage of three karts getting a slow exit and climbed up to 30th. I had gained a few more places towards the end but a dislodged front bumper caused me a 10 seconds penalty added to my time and that caused me to drop a few places.
Fighting to stay ahead
A moment of visualisation before the final
Starting on the exterior row, I got squeezed to the outside in the chicane which caused me a few places. With 20 laps to go on this technical circuit, anything could happen. Everyone was blocking in the early stages of the race, so not much action was going on for me, till someone in front did a mistake and that made us bunch up into a 5 kart train.
Fighting my way back up from the back
With all the tension building up in this 5 kart train, each lap I was going back and forth, and I knew that if I managed to not crack under pressure it would bring me to the front of the train, and it did, so towards the end I was leading it.
After numerous laps of fighting, I managed to pull a gap, and I tried to catch up to the next group, but I was still lacking pace and they were a tad too quick. I finished the race in 24th.
Leading the 5 kart train
I completed my first year in the championship in 15th out of the 51 drivers from 39 countries. It's a good start for my first year at international level. As I go higher and higher, it will only get more difficult. I definitely won't stop here. I'm determined to fight my way to the top!
I'd like to thank the CIK-FIA for organising this amazing championship, every race was a stepping stone for me to learn in order to rise to the top. I'd also like to thank the marshalls for keeping us safe, the race directors and the stewards for making the races fair and square, my mechanic Aurélien, my mum and dad for supporting me all this way as well as my friends and relatives! Special thanks to Lee for informing me that I was in the final, Kaio, Renan and Takatsu for helping me get the kart ready for the prefinal as well! It wouldn't have been possible without you guys! :)
Overall Trophy Standings
Final group photo for the academy 2016
