The first race in the German KZ2 Championship was run on the fast karting track at Oschersleben on April 24th-26th. The competition was tough with 20 drivers from the European Championship and all together including 134 drivers from 19 countries.
Since I never had raced on the track before, it was important to get as many laps as possible at the practice sessions and then be able to concentrate on the chassis settings.
During the practice sessions we tested various set-ups to get the chassis as flexible and smooth as possible.
The time qualification was a 10 minutes session and the drivers were free to choose when to start their session. I went out on the track when it was 7 minutes left of the session and got the time 37.544 sec, thereby qualifying in to place 32.
This year the competition was tougher than last year since there were 20 drivers from the European Championship. One can see clearly how much difference there is between the drivers who are racing for a big team and the few private drivers, with significantly smaller resources especially regarding the engine performance.
In the heats, I started at 21st and 22nd position. In the first heat I crossed the line on 19th place and the second heat on 20th place.
Unfortunately I had the same problem in both races. In the first laps I had no grip at all and I had to adjust my driving so much that it wasn?t possible to run as fast as I?d like.
In the B-final I started in fourth place and the first six from this final would go to the A-final. On the third lap I was badly hit by another driver, who climbed up from the rear of the wheels, over the water hose, cut the tire and then down again. Because of this we both lost four places. The lap after that the same driver run over my left side again, and because of that I spun around and didn?t make it to the A-final.
I think this was so unnecessary and I?m so disappointed. I was fourth and he was fifth when this happened, so both had the chance to come to the A-final.
However, there were positive things with the race weekend.
Time wise, I?m closer to the top drivers now, than I was before. The 0.7 sec gap to the European Championship runner up last year, Rick Dreezen, is something I take with me to the upcoming races.
