The first race in Kerpen gathered 49 entrants. To this race in Hahn, there were only 30 drivers on the entry list. It was only the ?top of the line? drivers who were going to participate in the final.
In the practice sessions on the Friday, my focus was to learn the track and the newly introduced ?-corner combination. The team also had to find the right gearing and a good chassis set-up. On top of that, the drivers had to learn to drive in a way that would eliminate excessive wear of the tyres.
Saturday?s schedule included: practise sessions, time qualification, two heats and briefing.
For some reason, I?m always fastest at the Saturday morning practise. I had my best lap time then, but unfortunately the time didn?t reach the top on the time qualification.
In both heats, I started on the 19th position. In the first heat I finished 18th and in the second I ended up on 17th position.
In the second heat, it went very well. I had a very good first lap and passed H?yrup-Hansen in the last corner. Also, when I had overtaken Siebecke at the end of the straight, I was almost involved in a crash with Hauenstein and I was forced to go around him on the outside. Due to that, I lost those two positions and I started my chase of the Dane and the German again. The heat was only 9 laps, so I didn?t have the time to catch up on them.
On the Sunday there was a Warm-up session, a Sprint race and the Final race.
In the Sprint, which lasted for 9 laps, I got a good start and fought my way trough the field, and became 24th overall.
The Final race became a tough challenge. The soft tyres got stuck to the hot rubber covered tarmac on the starting grid and the engine stopped when the green light came on. I had to jump out of the kart and try to engage the neutral gear and then get it rolling. This was a difficult moment but finally after 22 seconds I managed to push-start the kart and get it moving. This problem happened to three other drivers on the grid as well.
I had to do the best from this and started chasing from the back of the field. I finally ended up on 24th position.
Since only the best drivers in the Championship took part this time, it was really hard for me as a private driver from Sweden, but I think I managed well.
In the final overall standings of the Championship Charlotte I ended up on the 37th position of the totally 68 drivers having participated in the DKM.
It was also nice to hear from two competitors that my engine is really powerful. They both claimed that they had no chance to overtake me since my engine is pushing extremely hard out of the corners.
When I?m now looking back at the 2008 DKM season, the first one abroad, I really have to say that this is the best I ever have done in my karting career. I have evolved immensely as a karting driver during these five races. I feel that I have been treated with great respect from not only the DKM organization and the officials and marshals but also my competitors.
The next and final race of the season takes place on September 12th -13th at my home track Gothenburg Karting Ring. The event is Gothenburg Grand Prix which is the largest karting competition in Scandinavia. In my class, KZ2 there are more than 50 drivers registered on the entry list.
For pictures and more information:
E-mail: charlotte@charlotteracing.se
Website: http://www.charlotteracing.se
Hello everybody,