FIA Karting European Championship rd 1, Valencia – OKJ final: fantastic victory for Van Langendonck

[Translated with Google]

Tires: Maxxis

The FIA Karting European Championship of Dries Van Langendonck (Forza Racing – Exprit – TM Kart) begins in the best possible way. Despite losing a few positions at the start, the Belgian quickly regained second place and reduced the gap to leader Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing – KR – IAME), who started from pole position, lap after lap. After reaching him, the two engage in a nice duel, but the reigning OKJ world champion definitively takes the lead with four laps to go.
Immediately overtaking, Schaufler finds himself battling with Sebastian Minns (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – TM Kart), Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Kart), Bosco Arias Chavarri (DPK Racing – KR – IAME) and Sebastian Lehtimaki ( Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex). The Austrian slipped to fifth and, in the heat of the fight, came into contact with Lehtimaki: the retirement of both riders was inevitable.
Van Langendonck distances himself from the chasing group and flies towards victory, after recording pole position in qualifying. Instead, Minns defended his second position well and achieved the first podium of his career in the category. With a great overtaking on the last lap, the rookie Bosco takes third place from Costoya.
With a solid comeback of eight positions, Filippo Sala (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – TM Kart) finished fifth on one of his favorite tracks – as he himself admitted. Excellent sixth and seventh places respectively for the rookie Noah Baglin (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) and for Daniel Kelleher (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME).
Finally, among the top ten we find Thomas Pradier (VictoryLane – KR – IAME), eighth, Roman Kamyab (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – TM Kart), ninth, and Scott Kin Lindblom (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) , the latter capable of recovering 15 positions and finishing tenth.
On the fringes of the top-10 were Iacopo Martinese (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), 11th, Arjen Kräling (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), 12th, and Dean Hoogendoorn (AKM Motorsport – KR – IAME), 13th . Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) further behind, 18th. After a good progression during the weekend, Lyzen Borys (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Kart) retired with three laps to go while occupying eighth place.

Results