FIA Karting – Nakamura-Berta and Khavalkin, leaders for intense heats in Sweden
The battles were relentless during the 30 qualifying heats for the FIA Karting European Championship – OK and OK-Junior which were held in Sweden on Kristianstadsbanan. The middle ranking has changed a lot since qualifying, except for OK-Poland Kean Nakamura-Berta (GBR), who is undefeated in five races. Anatholy Khavalkin regained the lead over OK-Junior Poland Guillaume Bouzar (LUX).
Saturday’s weather was very nice and the thermometer rose above 20 °. The licking tires, Vega in OK-Junior and MG in OK, offered excellent grip to the competitors during their many sports confrontations. The fight took place at the level of driving as well as equipment, where the teams worked hard to make a difference.
The superheat on Sunday morning will give participants one last chance to qualify for the top 36 in each category that will take them to the finals. Fierce competition is expected at all levels in these morning races.
OK: Nakamura-Berta has it all
Holder of the best qualifying time, the British driver Kean Nakamura-Berta was perfect during the qualifying heat for the FIA Karting European Championship – OK. With five victories in five races at Åsumringen’s 1221 m, he could not have dreamed of anything better. Three-time winner, lightweight Tomass Stolcermanis took second place ahead of Jamaican Alex Powell. Maksim Orlov managed to return to fourth place, just in terms of points with the Finnish driver Juho Valtanen who had taken eight places. Good performance for Olin Galli (BRA) who came back from 22nd to sixth position, and for Evan Giltaire (FRA) seventh with a win of 13 positions. Maxim Rehm (DEU), who set the second fastest time in qualifying, dropped back to 14th place. Championship leader Joe Turney (GBR) moved up from 30th to 17th, while his second Enzo Deligny (FRA) was 19th (+6 pl). Rashid Al Dhaheri (ARE) climbed 19 places to 22nd and Gabriel Gomez (BRA) climbed 21 places to 23rd.
OK-Junior: Khavalkin takes Bouzar’s place
Anatholy Khavalkin took first place in the intermediate classification of the FIA Karting European Championship – OK-Junior in Kristianstad with three victories against two to Luxembourg driver Guillaume Bouzar, pole position holder. This shows how close the confrontation was. Frenchman Jimmy Helias was in the top three until his retirement last pushed him back to 13th position despite his two victories. British driver Lewis Wherrell, with three victories, took third place on equal points with Polish driver Jan Pzryroswki, who moved up nine places. Thai driver Enzo Tarnvanickul entered the top five with three top places. The rest of the hierarchy featured some new drivers with Kirill Kutskov sixth, Emmanuele Olivieri (ITA) seventh, Miguel E. Costa (BRA) eighth, championship leader Nathan Tye (GBR) ninth and Tiziano Monza (SGP) tenth. Several drivers who did well in the championship were not in a favorable position on Saturday night. The situation was not so bad for Dmitry Matveev who came back from 15th to 11th place, but René Lammers (NLD) 29th and Jules Caranta (FRA) 25th probably expected better.
Preliminary program for the Kristianstad event
Sunday 5 June
09:00 – 10:05: Heating
10:10 – 11:45: Superheats
13:15 – 14:40: Finals
The Kristianstad event can be followed on the official FIA Karting Championship app for mobile devices and on the website www.fiakarting.com.