Positive results in both categories (OK and OK Junior), which were the protagonists of the 3rd Round of the FIA European Championship held in Sweden from 2nd to 5th June. It was especially the Brazilian Olin Galli who stood out from the qualifying practice on the Kristianstad track, with the 22nd overall time, then continuing his qualifying path in the Heat with 2 second places as his best results, which guaranteed him to start from P4 on the starting grid in the Final. Gabriel Gomez also did good; despite an unlucky qualifying, he recovered in the Heat obtaining a 2nd and a 3rd place too. The weekend was more difficult for Adrián Malheiro, who qualified for the Final, but at the back of the grid, while Viktor Gustafsson did not manage to enter it, due to two race contacts. Regarding the Final, it is worth saying that Olin Galli compromised many of his chances of obtaining the podium already at the start, as starting from the outside line of the grid made him lose some positions, to then close in P9. Gabriel Gomez also finished the race in the point zone, recovering 10 positions, from P24 to P14, while Mallheiro was forced to retire due to a race contact.
A good weekend in OK Junior for the CRG colors as well. Nikolas Roos had the pace of the best in every phase of the meeting. The South African of the CRG Team scored P11 overall in qualifying practice and after excellent Heats, he managed to start from P13 on the starting grid of the Final, where he obtained a positive 11th place in the points. His race pace was good, like Scott Lindblom’s one, who however suffered from his lack of experience by losing some Heats and not qualifying for the Final.
The 4th and final round of the Euro OK and OK Junior will take place in Franciacorta in Italy on the weekend of July, 10th.
CRG drivers’ post-race reaction
Olin Galli (OK): “I’m very happy with the speed we had all weekend and also how easy the chassis was to drive. We are using the KT2 chassis which in the 2022 version allows us to tackle all stages of the race, moving the set up very little, always offering top performance. I was unlucky at the start of the Final because from the outside line I was unable to finish behind the leaders and lost some positions, otherwise I think the podium would have been within our reach. We hope to finish this Championship in the best possible way in Italy and we will work to make sure we close the last gap with our rivals”.
Nikolas Roos (OKJ): “We worked very well this weekend and we were very close to fighting with the best in the Final. The chassis is really fast in all conditions and this makes our work program from free practice onwards much easier, because I can concentrate on improving my drive and the engine set-up as well. Now we have to keep our focus on the work we are doing and prepare as best as we can for the last Franciacorta match in Italy. I want to thank all the CRG technical staff for the great support they are giving me this season and my GFR engineer”.
