Juniors: Nicolas Schoell takes the Victory - Stan Pex takes last minute Win in Senior Class - Andreas Backman rules the DD2.

[divider style="dotted" top="10" bottom="20"]

[one_half]

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ver 100 drivers from all over the world headed to the Adria Raceway from October 19th to 25th. The 2015 ROTAX MAX International Open was calling, affording the last seven tickets for the ROTAX MAX Grand Finals in Portugal – two in each of the three categories and one in the DD2 Masters-class as well. The feedback was great again and so the organizing RGMMC Group welcomed full grids in the three classes of juniors, seniors and DD2.
It was be an adventurous ride for all the drivers as the impressing and vast track in Italy only opened in November 2014. 1.300 meters long and with an interesting mix of tight corners and long straights, the Adria Karting Raceway was virgin soil for most participants. Consequently the competition was highly balanced and came up with some surprising outcomes. Slipstream action and uncountable overtaking manoeuvres were on the agenda making for nerve-racing action on the tarmac. In the end Nicolas Schoell (juniors), Stan Pex (seniors), Andreas Backman (DD2) and Robert Schluenssen (DD2 Masters) took the prestigious victory, equally receiving their ticket to the ROTAX MAX Grand Finals in Portugal.
Juniors: Nicolas Schoell takes the Victory
In the junior category, representing the largest field of the International Open by more than 40 drivers, Nicolas Schoell (Strawberry Racing) raised the bar in the qualifying session. The Austrian drove a time of 59.935 seconds and was only 0.058 seconds quicker then Jonathan Hoggard (KR Sport) from the UK in second place. The leading two drivers were the only ones breaking the sonic barrier of 51 seconds. Third place went to the British youngster Scott Symons (KR Sport), followed by his fellow countrymen Luke Ide (Dan Holland Racing) and Mark Kimber (Dan Holland Racing), who all belonged to the second and obviously faster qualifying group. Frenchman Axel Charpentier (Strawberry Racing) set the best time in the first group, which finally was only enough to take sixth place in the overall ranking.
In the heats, Nicolas Schoell did not leave any doubt and took the maximum out of the races. By a clean record he won each of his heats thus defending the pole position. Behind the Austrian youngster, three more of his teammates proved the dominance of Strawberry Racing: The heat winners Axel Charpentier and Tom Gamble followed in second and third place, while Perdana Minang from Indonesia completed the quadruple success for the British Tony Kart squad. Fifth place went to Scott Symons, being the best driver to catch up with the leaders.
In the prefinal the dominance of Strawberry Racing was broken. Right at the start, pole setter Nicolas Schoell dropped back several positions, finally recovering to fifth place in the end. On the top, the lead changed several times between Axel Charpentier, Tom Gamble, Johnathan Hoggard and Scott Symons. By halftime the KR Sport duo managed to head away from the grid and by a strong final spurt Scott Symons took the win closely ahead of his teammate Johnathan Hoggard. Axel Charpentier and Tom Gamble followed in third and fourth place.
In the final, the KR drivers could not confirm their brilliant performance: After a few laps of fierce fighting Axel Charpentier and Nicolas Schoell set the pace and pulled away from the grid. In the penultimate lap, Schoell took the lead and defended the top up to the finish line, finally snatching the coveted win ahead of his teammate. Dzianis Slavinski (Dann Holland Racing) from Belarus completed the podium in front of Tom Gamble and Johnathan Hoggard. Prefinal winner Scott Symons was excluded due to unfair driving.
Stan Pex takes last minute Win in Senior Class
Mauricio van der Laan (CRG SPA) was the fastest man in qualifying. By a time of 50.479 seconds the man from Spain took the top, ahead of Turkey's Berkay Besler (Bouvin Power) and Dutchman Luc Willemse (Team TKP). Frenchman Adrien Renaudin (Kart Pro Racing) and the reigning Euro vice champion Rinus van Kalmthout (Daems Racing) completed the top five positions, all belonging to the first qualifying group, which was remarkably quicker than the drivers of the following session. This one was led by Josh White (Coles Racing) but his time of 50.812 seconds was just good enough for the 13th place in the total ranking.
During the heats, Mauricio van der Laan could not tie in with his brilliant performance and dropped back to tenth place. He left the way to his opponents, which were led by Berkay Besler. The Turkish driver had a flawless run and was victorious three times, boosting himself to the top of the ranking. Adrien Renaudin improved to the second place after having taken this position in each of his heats in a solid way. Third place went to Gary Donnelly (Strawberry Racing), which meant a big jump to the front, as the Irish driver had been only in twelfth spot in the qualifying. Luc Willemse took fourth place, while Rinus van Kalmthout had to be satisfied with fifth position. Although the Dutchman won two heats, he equally had to compensate a time penalty, which

[/one_half]

[one_half_last]
prevented him from doing better in the ranking.
Adrien Renaudin had the best start into the prefinal. At first the Frenchman pulled away from his chasers but lost his leading gap after a few laps. He then had to cope with Gary Donnelly and Berkay Besler who both managed to take the lead for at least one time during the race distance. As the race approached the end, Gary Donnelly and Adrien Renaudin headed away from the grid and crossed the line in the mentioned order. Behind them up to 13 drivers struggled for third place, which finally was defended by Berkay Besler, ahead of Euro junior champion Jack McCarthy (Strawberry Racing) and Alessandro Trombelli (KR Sport), while favourite Rinus van Kalmthout (Daems Racing) had to retire due to a collision.
The final was quite a nail biter. Adrien Renaudin and Gary Donnelly were in the top positions, changing the lead a few times, although the chasers were close on their heels. Then by halftime, Renaudin suffered a dramatic setback. His rear bumper got lose, which forced him to retire. So Berkay Besler and Russia's Denis Mavlanov (KR Sport) caught up with the leader but they were not lucky either, since a collision threw them out of the race. Next ones were Luc Willemse and Dutchman Stan Pex (CRG SPA). By the last lap they managed to close the gap to Donelly and in a spectacular last minute attack it was Pex, holding all the aces. He overtook both of his opponents and celebrated the win. Willemse followed in second place, close ahead of Donelly in third place. Alessandro Trombelli and Jack McCarthy completed the top five positions.
Andreas Backman rules the DD2
In the DD2 category Andreas Backman (Daems Racing) impressed during his comeback in European ROTAX racing. The man from Sweden drove the best time in the shifter class, while there was another surprise to find in the second position: Robert Schluenssen (RS Competition) – team boss of RS Competition – got back behind the wheel and proved that he has not lost his talent for active karting although his last race dates back almost ten years. Even more remarkable: the Dane was the best Masters driver and was supposed to keep that role throughout the entire event. Third place went to Aaron Sherlock (Paul Carr Racing) from Ireland, ahead of Switzerland's Kevin Ludi (Spirit Racing) and Finland's Ville Viilainen (VRT), who complemented the top five positions.
In the heats Andreas Backman defended the top position. Though the Swedish driver had no walkover, he took two out of three wins granting him the pole position for the prefinal on Sunday. Kevin Ludi improved to second place ahead of Ville Viilainen. The Austrian drivers Constantin Schoell (BirelART/KMS) and Jan Wuenschek (VPDR) took the chasing roles.
In prefinal Andreas Backman did a brilliant job again: After a perfect start, he controlled the race and celebrated a start-finish win. Behind him, Aaron Sherlock really rocked the boat. Having picked up the race from ninth place, the Irish driver boosted himself into the second place after the very first lap and secured that position easily to the end. But a due to a technical non-conformity Sherlock was excluded, whereby Constantin Schoell inherited the second place ahead of Dutchman Joey Alders (Schepers Racing Service), Kevin Ludi and Jose Brito (CRG SPA) from Ecuador.
In the final Andreas Backman had no easy job. In the beginning Constantin Schoell and Kevin Ludi were the ones determining the pace. It took Backman almost half of the race distance until he recovered and regained the lead. From then on, he was able to pull away and take the victory. The following positions were far away from being settled. Constantin Schoell, Kevin Ludi and Jose Brito fought for the podium positions until a collision shuffled the ranking: Ludi dropped back to sixth place and Brito – suffering from a puncture – saw the chequered flag on 19th spot. Consequently Schoell took the second place ahead of Ville Viilainen, Robert Schluenssen (RS Competiton) and Philipp Seewer (Spirit Racing) from Switzerland.
As for the DD2 Masters, Robert Schluenssen was unbeatable. The Dane took the deserved victory in the end, while Frenchman Guillaume Berteaux (Sologne Sport Tech) and the British lady Tamsin Germain (DG Racing) made their way to the podium too.
During the prize giving ceremony one saw a lot of lucky faces: Besides the four race winners and seven designated Grand Final qualifiers, four drivers won a complete season in the 2016 ROTAX MAX Euro Challenge by lottery. By the chequered flag of the ROTAX MAX International Open, the organising RGMMC Group looks back on another successful ROTAX racing season. Now the preparations for 2016 are in full swing and the next event is not too far ahead: from 8th to 14th of February 2016 the traditional ROTAX MAX Winter Cup in Valencia (ESP) will be the next major event by RGMMC. So save the date and meet you there! Stay tuned on the official website www.rotaxmaxeurochallenge.com or www.rgmmcmedia.com, where you get all information regarding reports, photos, results and live TV stream.

[/one_half_last]

[box type="shadow"] Fonte:rotaxmaxeurochallenge.com[/box]

[divider style="dotted" top="10" bottom="10"]