First results in Genk. The CIK-FIA KZ and KZ2 European nearly awarded. Today’s qualifying started off the decisive racing weekend for the CIK-FIA European championships for the KZ and KZ2 categories. The venue of the final showdown is the Horensbergdam Circuit of Genk, in Belgium: 1,350 metres of racetrack running through the green woods of Flanders, where the 110 scrutineered drivers are going to drive from morning until sunset. The schedule is really demanding: it all started two days ago with free practice. Today’s results are indicative of what we should expect from the heats, which will be run tomorrow. Then, the Finals, on Sunday afternoon – live in streaming on the Internet -, will tell us who the first two 2013 Champions are.
Max Verstappen set the pace in KZ (Pic: Sport in Photo)
Verstappen is the poleman in KZ.
The weather today has been variable, but KZ managed to run qualifying on dry track. The timing practices was dominated by CRG: the Italian manufacturer placed three drivers in the first three positions. The Dutch Max Verstappen (CRG-TM-Bridgestone) grabbed the pole stopping the clock at 51”385, only 31 milliseconds faster than his fellow countryman Jorrit Pex, 44 than the English Jordon Lennox Lamb (CRG-Parilla-Bridgestone). Within a hundredth of a second from the leader also the French Anthony Abasse (Sodi-TM-Bridgestone), fourth, and the Belgian Jonathan Thonon (CRG-Parilla-Bridgestone) fifth. Twelfth Bas Lammers (Intrepid-TM-Bridgestone); he is Verstappen’s toughest rival, but Lammers is well-accustomed to performances which improve during the weekend and with a gap of only five points with his fellow countryman, he is one of the favourites for the victory.
KZ2 Fastest Qualifier Kenny Charles (Pic: FM Press)
Kenny Charles is the surprise in KZ2
In the KZ2 qualifying, rain was the protagonist. The track began to dry only during the last of the three sessions the 84 scrutineered drivers were divided into. The Belgian Kenny Charles (Merlin-TM-Bridgestone) put in his best performance, stopping the clock at 1’02”650: the best time of the whole pack. On wet track, in the last two sessions, good results for the Swedish Victor Öberg (Gillard-TM-Bridgestone) and the Croatian Kristijan Habulin (CRG-Modena-Bridgestone); they placed second and third respectively behind Charles. On the other hand, the two current leaders of the championship were not as lucky: the Italian Riccardo Negro (DR-TM-Bridgestone) is 8th, while his fellow countryman Marco Zanchetta (Maranello-TM) is 29th. The two drivers challenged each other in the first qualifying heats in the afternoon, and Zanchetta achieved a surprising win finishing ahead of Negro. In the other races of today, the winners were Habulin, the Swedish Joel Johansson (Energy-TM-Bridgestone), the German Patrick Kappis (Birel-TM-Bridgestone), the Spanish Pedro Hiltbrand (LH-Maxter-Bridgestone) and the Norwegian Emil Antonsen (DR-TM-Bridgestone).
The drivers of the Academy ready to battle. There are 32 CIK-FIA Academy Trophy drivers here in Genk, ready to race in the first round out of three of the season. For them, today, only free practice. From tomorrow they will start to set their first times in qualifying, then the first heats.
The battle of Genk in live streaming and pre-recorded broadcast on Rai Sport 2. On the Horensbergdam Circuit the network of WSK Promotion is operating. On Sunday morning, from 10.50am, WSK Promotion guarantees the TV coverage of the drivers’ presentation and, of course, of the race towards the first 2013 European titles. The event is broadcast live in streaming onwww.cikfiachampionship.com and www.cikfia.tv. The streaming will be available for the whole final phase of the event, until the prize-giving ceremony after the races.
