The Bridgestone Cup European Final is a well known international event, where most of the top competitors, such as Alessandro Vantini, Paolo Baselli and Massimo Aceto, who compete here also compete in the Vortex Super Grand Final (19th 0 25 October).
We pitted in the PCR factory tent for this race together with other PCR drivers. The PCR owners came to the race to watch us compete. The experience was incredible! I gained so much once again. I can’t get enough of these races in Europe. I absolutely love them.
Qualifying went well as we qualified 3rd on the grid, which is the prefect position to start for a race, I think. At the start of the pre-final I overtook the 2nd driver at the start and put the pedal to the metal to keep up with the leader. The kart found grip quicker than I though and I was all over the back of the leader. I then overtook in lap 5 and went into the lead. I lead the race till 2 laps from the end. It was an amazing feeling to lead the pack on their home turf. My kart lost some pace and I made a mistake in the one corner and was too late to defend the line, so I got overtaken and finished 2nd, only to find out that the winner had an illegal clutch, which is a performance enhancer. So this meant that we won the pre-final. I was over the moon. I got goose flesh all over. I could not believe my eyes! I got so much respect from the other drivers for my performance, it was overwhelming. I felt so blessed.
So we started on Prime number 1 spot for the Final. I was quite nervous, excited and totally ready to rock and roll. I remember the 2nd driver trying to trick me on the start as he accelerated and then suddenly stopped in order to create confusion I guessed…I got him as I had a superb start. Lead the race for a lap or 2. Then got overtaken and pushed wide and fell back to 3rd. I did notice my kart did not want to come up to pace, which we later discovered that our tyre pressure gauge was faulty, which meant that our pressures were higher than we thought. So the tyres overheated and got damaged. Anyway we managed to finish 5th in the end, which is great. We are 5th in the World! I am so blessed about that!
I was very happy with the general performance of this weekend as we were on pace with the top competitors in this Super Rok category and we are now number 5 in the world for the Bridgestone Cup Super Rok series. Now I was ready for the Grand Final.
Thank you to everyone in the team! you guys do sucha great job!
Thank you to all the Sponsors! I am very grateful for your support!
Thank you family, friends and fans for backing me!
Fabienne