The 5th race of the Trophée Ufolep Kart Aquitaine took place at Circuit de Magescq. The weather was nice and the practice went along without much problem.
On the race day during the chrono, Alvis was on pole for most of the laps only to lose it on the last lap by 8 thousand of a sec to his team mate Alexandre.
Starting the race on the front row next to Alexandre, he was ready to put on a good race.
However, it wasn't a good start for Alvis and he lost 2 places to 4th, and things got worse, he was pushed out of track on the 2nd lap on the 2nd corner. He was stucked in the gravels and was unable to return to the track. Only a lap later he was assisted by the photographer to get his kart back to the track and continue with the race. When asked what was on his mind when he was back to the race and he said 'I want to finish the race in the highest position possible.'
From first row to last row on the grid on prefinal, Alvis objective was to overtake as many as possible. He had a good start and gained 4 positions on the first lap. Moving up another 4 more positions to finish 5th for prefinal. To top it off, Alvis broke the track record of 58.4 sec with a new timing of 58.278 for his category.
A silent moment with his kart before the final. His target for this race was to get a trophy as a Mother's Day present. He really wished that he can do it together with his racing partner(his kart).
5th on the starting grid for the final, Alvis was determined to get on the podium. Knowing that he has the speed, his strategy was to stay calm and seize any opportunity to overtake. It was an exciting moment with the multiple exchanging of positions between 2nd to 7th until Alvis pulled away from the chasing pack.
Soon, Alvis was closing in on the leader on the last 4 laps. As he was near bumper to bumper, he launched an attack to overtake but was countered by Alexandre to regain his lead.
The attacking from Alvis and defending from Alexandre lasted for the remaining laps. During the fighting for the lead, the chasing pack closes the gap on them. However, the experienced Alexandre defended his lead well from Alvis's attack and crosses the finishing line with Alvis following closely behind.
This is the first podium for Alvis in his first year in the Subaru Racing Kid category and it arrived just in time for Mother's Day present.
Well done for the happy little racer. His passion for racing can only grow stronger with each race regardless of results. It is the process of the racing that he enjoys and sought for. A happy racer will always enjoy a happy race process and in no time, happy results will come.
Photo by Thomas Martin http://www.thomasmartien.com
