Author Archives: Cédric

P2 during the last Formula Karting race of 2018!

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To make their season closing extra special, the Formula Karting organization decided to use a different race format. Three hotlaps served as qualifying format. After each hotlap, the slowest six riders dropped out. Instead of five different heats, it was decided to have one 70-minute race.

The racetook place on the always challenging track of FKI in Machelen. As an extra it had already rained heavily that day, so it looked like we would finish the race in wet conditions.

During the training sessions I felt that the track was great for me and that, despite it being a long time ago, I got on well with the wet conditions.

I did not take any risks during the first hotlap, as the fastest 14 drivers continued. I was comfortably in the top 5, a confirmation of my good shape.

In my second hotlap I noticed that my kart had considerably less grip on the wet parts. I eventually qualified on P6, the fastest 8 riders continued.

The third and final hotlap I hoped for a good kart, so that I could possibly have a shot at the pole position. Unfortunately, with one of the least karts in the pack I got no further than 6th place. That was also the kart with which I had to start the race.

During the race there were two mandatory kart changes. These had to happen at the earliest after 15 minutes and before 15 minutes of the end. I was planning to change immediately after 15 minutes to hopefully get a better kart.

At the start I lost two places, so I drove around on P8 and lost a lot of time on the leaders. After 15 minutes, I was the first one to pit for my first kart change. In my outlap I didn’t see the leaders driving very far behind me. The relief was great as I was fastest on the track from lap one in that kart. The gap with the leaders was getting smaller lap by lap, bringing me virtually closer to the lead, at that time in the hands of Dylan De Wolf. At that time he was the only one who could match my pace.

A bit after halfway I saw Dylan driving into the pits. At that moment I had the ideal track position and I was able to take over his kart. My two kart changes were done at that time and I was able to finish the race with an even faster kart. The lap after my second go-kart change, however, I got hit by Eliano De Vos when he came out of the pit. At that time he was a lap behind (he ended up 17th), so he had nothing to gain with that move. I was quite frustrated about this  incident when a few laps later, Ruben Boutens rejoins just in front of me after his second kart change. I tried to get past Ruben a few times, but I still couldn’t get the move done. Moments later we saw Dylan ahead of us who, after his second kart change, got a very slow kart. A tactical error made me and Ruben catch up with him. Ruben could pass him fairly quickly. It took a little longer for me, because Dylan knew which corners he had to defend. When I finally got past Dylan, Ruben was already too far away to still claim victory …

In the end I became second after this hugely exciting GP. Without that incident with Eliano, I would undoubtedly have stayed on the track in front of Ruben and it would have been a different race.

Because of my two podium places in Kortrijk and Machelen, I eventually climbed up to ninth place in the general classification. If I had driven a full season, I would almost certainly have finished in fourth place and possibly even in third place!


Podium at the Formula Karting race in Kortrijk!

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The Formula Karting race in Kortrijk was the 7th race of the season. After I had already competed in the first three races, I was at the start again in this prestigious championship after being absent in the other races.

Kortrijk is a track where I have always felt good, so I went there with high expectations!

In the morning we had two training sessions in which I achieved two top 5 results, which for me was the confirmation of my good shape.

As usual, five heats were held, each time preceded by a hotlap qualification.

My first kart wasn’t too good, so I knew immediately that I had to limit the damage with this. All in all I was able to achieve a reasonable 10th place with this. My direct competitors did not do better with this kart.

Heat two was a lot better. I was able to qualify close behind Ruben Boutens and Mats de Jong. A sequence that we also kept until the finish. Ruben and Mats were just that little bit faster so I couldn’t go for an overtaking attempt.

The third heat was my highlight of the day. A strong hotlap was rewarded with a pole position. Opnithi Puyato qualified just behind me. He also caused the most pressure in the opening laps. However, he took his short-cut lap fairly early, which put him in traffic and lost a spot to Ricardo Vlieger, who had meanwhile closed the gap with me. I was able to defend my first place without too many problems so I won that heat!

I knew my fourth heat would be a scrape result. The kart had never been in the top 10 in the heats before, so I braced myself for a difficult race. I finally finished in 13th place. In my hotlap I made a small mistake, something that may have cost me a place or two.

At that time I was fifth in the daily classification, a podium was still possible, but then I had to finish at least second or higher in the fifth and final heat. Ruben took pole, but I managed to qualify inP2.
Ruben took his shortcut quite quickly in the race, so I decided to keep on driving to get past him. However, he managed to match my times so after my shortcut I came back behind him, although on P2. I tried a few times to overtake, but unfortunately he managed to hold his line . This second place was enough to climb to the third place in the daily classification!

American Festival Zolder

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The American Festival in Zolder was the last round of the Belcar Endurance Championship 2018.

After the turbo problems in Spa during the previous race, the car was fully prepared and also extensively tested on the circuit of Croix-en-Ternois. The car passed two full test days without any problems.

Jamie did free practice on Friday, during which a number of minor adjustments were made. The car had also made significant progress in that regard. On Saturday Jamie managed to place us on P19 with a fastest lap of 1’41″2, by far the fastest we had ever driven with our diesel Radical. My part of the qualification was severely interrupted by two red flags, which prevented me from doing a fast lap.

The start of the race on Sunday was taken by me. As there were no incidents on the track during the opening hour, I could do the first stint of the two-hour race. In addition, the car behaved properly, although I had a poorly functioning right front brake caliper, making it tricky under hard braking. I was able to move towards P15 with some intensive battles with GT4 cars. During that first stint I was able to lower the benchmark of the Radical to 1’40″045, a huge step forward!

After an hour, Jamie took over. However, he had to continue immediately as our refueling system failed, the pump was stuck. After just 15 minutes, the team got the pump working, and we immediately came in for our second stop.

He managed to keep the car out until suddenly he came back without any gears. Moments later, it appeared that a bolt had come loose, causing the rod to come loose from the shift mechanism. The problem was solved fairly quickly, so that we could finish the race without further problems!

I would like to thank the Oracle TSL team for their confidence in me this season, together we have taken a huge step in the right direction.

Racing Festival in Spa ends in a disappointment

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The Racing Festival in Spa was the 5th and penultimate round of the Belcar Endurance Championship 2018.

The car was rebuild after the fire on Thursday during the 24 hours of Zolder. Furthermore, some updates were made to the car, which did not immediately have the expected impact. After some last-minute changes, the behavior of the car had improved somewhat. The car also proved to be faster compared to our previous race in Spa.

During qualifying, Jamie put us on 20th place. He also took the start of the race on Sunday. However, after 20 minutes, fate struck again. A blown turbo went partly through the exhaust, but worse, also partly through the engine, which caused some serious damage. Our racewas over immediately, but the question remains whether the power source can still be restored.

To be continued …

6th place and fastest lap at 8h FKI!

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The 8h of FKI is an absolute classic in the Belgian indoor karting world.

This year I was not at the start with Mats de Jong, but with young star Guillermo van Pamelen. Guillermo is only 15, but has been active in the indoor karting world for several years. For example, he also participated in the Kart World Championship in Szczecin last summer.

During free practice and qualification it soon became clear that our kart was not too great. I could eventually qualify on P8 (on 23 teams), never an ideal starting position, even in an endurance race. My fear became reality when less experienced drivers started competing for position in the first hour of the race. I tried to keep myself out of it as much as possible, but despite my effort we still lost too much time. Again proof that starting in the front in an endurance is a much greater benefit than often thought.

Our second kart turned out to be two tenths faster, so we moved to P3!

Guillermo had a hard time with his first kart in his first stint. He could get fast times out of it, but was not always consistent. With his second kart he was a lot more consistent, so we stayed between P3 and P5. Unfortunately, at the end of his stint, Guillermo was pushed into the tyre wall. We lost about 20 seconds.

After 4 stints in total I took over again. Unfortunately, Guillermo forgot the button during the driver change (which starts a timer of 30s) so we lost about 10s. It must be said here that I also realized too late that the lamp was not on. A shame because those two things caused us to lose more than half a lap on our closest competitors.

I drove one more stint myself before coming in with hands full of blisters. Guillermo drove two more stints while I had my hands patched up at the first aid. At the end of the race I took over again and we got a very fast kart in the last stint. Since we were unable to win or lose any more positions at that time, I decided to do some hot laps and take a shot at the fastest race. That finally succeeded three laps from the end for which we were eventually rewarded with a beautiful cup!

 

A fires ends our 24 hours of Zolder too early…

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What had to be a revenge of the previous edition turned into a true drama.

The 24 hours of Zolder has been the highlight of the Belcar Endurance Championship a few years ago after its revival. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for us (Oracle Cars by TSL).

On Thursday we did two free practice sessions in the morning in which we got to know our new diesel power unit. Due to wet conditions it was difficult to say where we would be in terms of raw pace.

In the pre-qualifying, the starting order of the super pole was determined. A qualification format in which each car was allowed onto the track one by one for one fast lap. The result of the super pole was then used to determine the starting order.

However, things went completely wrong in pre-qualifying. Eric saw the pit sign too late, so he only noticed an oil leak on the engine when the car was already burning. He finally parked the car at the entrance of the pits where they tried to extinguish the car …

When the fire was finally extinguished, it soon became clear that our weekend was over immediately. No 5th consecutive 24 hours of Zolder for me, and certainly no revenge for 2017 …

In the coming weeks, the team will examine to what extent the car is damaged and / or whether it can be repaired. To be continued …

Team world champions!

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After not participating at the Kart World Championship for a number of years, I thought it would be a great challenge to be back at the start in 2018.

This year’s edition was held at the Silverhotel indoor circuit in Szczecin (Poland). As you could read earlier, I started training there together with Ward and Christophe in mid-June.

On Monday and Tuesday I had the opportunity to train a decent number of heats. The championship itself ran from Wednesday to Sunday.

The championship consisted of 8 heats with a hot lap qualification, followed by a semi-final for the best ranked 32 drivers and a final for the best ranked 20 drivers.

After the training I had a good feeling in both directions, I was very close to the fastest drivers, although it is always a matter of waiting to see how everyone performs from day to day.

My first day started relatively well. I qualified third in a reasonable kart and was able to finish in fourth place. In my second heat, I started third again in a very good kart. I was somewhat disappointed about my hot lap. Due to a strong strategy and quick pit stop, I managed to come out on top in the end, my first heat win was a fact!

The second day I started the way I finished the first. My hot lap wasn’t too good but I was able to recover by having a strong strategy and fast pit stop. Because of that I won my second heat! In the second heat that day I started from P4. Some battles in front of me in the beginning made me decide to pit early. Initially this seemed to work because I could virtually climb to second place, until a slower participant who had not yet pitted started defending. I lost too much time which caused me to fall back to P6, a pity because a third podium (and P4 overall after day 2) was almost certain.

With these four results I was 9th overall (out of 133 participants) and we were in the lead with the team championship!

On day three I was able to get a 4th place in my first heat.
The second heat initially looked good, a number of very strong drivers, but also a very fast kart. However, the disappointment was great when I could only qualify for P6, it remained my weak point in this years’ championship. During the race I decide to gamble again by going to the pit early and hopefully to be able to gain some places. Right after my pit stop I see Ruben Boutens going for an overtake on Opnithy Puyato for the lead, causing them to lose some time. Because of that incident, I almost immediately won 3-4 places. I quickly realized that it was about winning some extra time compared to Ruben. After a few laps I gained a bit of time, so I took the virtual lead. A little of halfway into the race, the belt broke on Rubens kart, which gave me a big opportunity to secure my third win!

By having another strong day, I rose to P7 overall, with the team we remained in the lead of the championship.

Day four went a lot less well. I received two moderate karts and also did not reach the level of the first three days. I had to be satisfied with a sixth and fourth place in my heats. As a result, I fell back to P11 overall, but with the team we remained in the lead due to strong performances from my teammates.

The semi-finals and final were held on the last day. I was drawn in the first semifinal where I met teammate Selina Balneger. The starting positions were determined by a shoot-out system in which drivers competed one lap with each kart. Because it had rained that morning, the outdoor track was a bit wet. I won my first shoot-out quite easily. In the second round I faced Selina. With the first kart I was a little less than 8 tenths faster than her, despite a big mistake in the first corner. I knew that my first kart was a lot faster, so I was under a lot of pressure to minimize the damage with the second. Unfortunately my mistake with the first kart turned out to be too much, because Selina was two hundredths faster than me. Afterwards it turned out that that mistake might have costed me 15 points in the general classification (Selina won the shoot-out and also won the semi-final with that kart).

I got a moderate go-kart for the semi-final, and managed to get no more than a seventh place (out of 16). I tumbled back to P21 overall, so I had to drive a shoot-out to still reach the final. Mentally I wasn’t in a very good shape anymore. In the shoot-out I immediately met Giovanni Baccelieri, probablt the most unlucky driver this championship, but very fast all week long. I finally lost with a difference of just over a tenth over two laps, so my championship was over and I was not allowed to drive the final, a huge disappointment. The good news was that my teammates did advance to the final, so that our team championship was still alive. In the individual championship, I finally finished in 23rd place, which still was a decent result, although, after such a strong start, my goal was to reach top 10!

In the final, my teammates did enough to secure the title, making us world champion in the team championship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken clutch ruins Zolder Superprix

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The third Belcar race of the season was held at 01/07/2018.
After our point finish in Spa, we were all keen to do it again in Zolder. We arrived in Zolder with a slightly faster engine, which made the gap with the front runners a bit smaller.

Since Raf was on vacation, Jamie and I took on the driving duties.

Everything went pretty well in qualifying on Saturday. At the end of the session I was able to put a 1’44″6 on the table which brought us to P23. The car was a bit faster compared to Spa, but we still had no chance against the much faster Normas.

Jamie took the start on Sunday. His times continued to fluctuate around 1’45-46 until after 20 minutes he was forced to come in with a broken clutch. Unfortunately, the team did not have a spare one, so our race was over immediately.

Unfortunately no points during the Superprix and immediately our second breakdown of the season. Developing a car yourself with limited budgets (and time) remains a challenging task …

In mid-August it is already time for the Zolder 24 hours, where we will try to do better than last year, where we lost about 7 hours due to mechanical problems.

Double podium at the 2x 5h Cup in Szczecin!

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During the weekend of the 16th and 17th of June, a 2x 5 hour race took place on the Silverhotel track in Szczecin (Poland). Since the Kart World Championship is being organized here in 5 weeks, this was an excellent opportunity to start training on this track.

Together with my Traxxis teammates Ward Maenhout and Christophe Verhoeven I went to Poland for this 2x 5h race. The first was held on Saturday afternoon, the second one on Sunday morning. This made it possible for us to return home Sunday evening.

On Saturday Christophe took the start from second place. He was able to hold on to that for a long time and even managed to attack Rico Haarbosch (Dutch Value) in first place. Ward took over from Christophe after 1h20 and brought us in at P3. After our pit stop we were back on P2 so I had the task not to lose time and try to maintain our position. We succeeded which meant we immediately grabbed our first podium of the weekend!

The race on Sunday was a copy of the one on Saturday, with the difference that I was allowed to leave on pole just before Dutch Value. Giovanni, who started for them, was just a little bit more consistent, he eventually passed me after a few laps. I was able to stay in his bumper until the end of my stint, making us comfortable on P2. Ward and Christophe both drove sublime stints, which meant we also finished at P2 in the second race!

First points for Oracle TSL!

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The Spa Euro race was the second round of the Belcar Endurance Championship 2018.

Jamie could not attend this time due to other commitments. Raf and I participated in this competition as a duo.

In the qualifying on Saturday the car was relatively reliable, but we were simply too slow compared to the rest of the prototypes. Our top speed was about 50km/h (!) lower than the fastest Norma, so the difference in lap times went as high as 24 seconds.

Since there was no time left to get the car mapped again, we decided to drive the race in this configuration to try to collect points for the championship.

I took the start for my account and luckily that went very smooth. Because of some pushing and pulling I could keep up with the GT4 cars in the first few laps. Once everyone got up to speed, I had to let them go. After 40 minutes, a turbo tube popped of, which forced me to enter the pit. Raf took over from me and after the repairs he was able to continue until we had to deal with an oil leak. Once this had been fixed, he could finish his stint without problems.

I got in the car for the last 40 minutes. I tried to keep the car in one piece so we would get some points. In the end, we finished P6 in our class, which was enough for our first points!

After a year and a half of bad luck and mechanical failures, we finally managed to gather points. It turned out that our diesel engine only produced 180hp that weekend, which easily cost us 7-8 seconds per lap.

The next appointment is at the end of June in Zolder. Where the weekend is dominated by the Blancpain Sprint Series.