The 1st Round of the Champions of The Future, the Karting Series made of 5 events reserved for the OK and OK Junior classes through which the teams get ready for the races of the FIA European Championship, has come to an end on the Valencia circuit. Right this prerogative of being a race, but also an important test opportunity in view of the European Championship, means that the key to understanding the results of this weekend and most probably even those of the next ones, will not be easy. The teams, in fact, give priority to technical work programs, trying multiple setup solutions and engine configurations and for this reason they partially prejudge the search of the sporting outcome.
That said, it should be noted that the working weekend for the CRG Racing Team drivers was positive, both from the point of view of the completed program and in terms of the performances shown on the track. In particular, Francisco Macedo and Gabriel Gomez stood out in the OK class, respectively P11 and P26 after the Qualifying Practices and then again the best CRG drivers on the starting grid of the Final, a race where also Mattia Colnaghi and Mark Dubnitski qualified for. At the finish line Gabriel Gomez ended the race close to the top ten with a race pace equivalent to the winners, while the tussle and some race contacts kept the other CRG drivers out of the top 15. In the OK Junior category the focus was also on the technical work programme, but in this case a bit of bad luck and the lack of experience of the two CRG drivers Klara Kowalczyk and Gabriel Koenigkan affected the chance to qualify for the Final.
The next appointment with the Champions of the Future Series will be on May 6th in the Czech Republic, while the OK and OK Junior drivers will be the protagonists of the 1st Round of the FIA European Championship in 15 days on the Valencia track.
Gabriel Gomez (OK): “We are very satisfied with the work program done, because we have gathered a lot of information and also had an excellent race pace in the Final. Our chassis confirmed that it adapts very well to all types of tracks and grip conditions and this point is very positive. We also tried some engine configurations, because we didn’t have any data on this track and I think that for the European Championship race in 15 days we’ll be ready and we can be very competitive”.
Gabriel Koenigkan (OK Junior): “My weekend was conditioned by a bad Qualifying which also compromised my Qualifying Heats. It was a race with so many new things to manage and we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I learned more this weekend than if I had done 10 days of testing before making my debut with the team. Now we have to look at the positive things and therefore at the speed, which has been very good on several occasions in the Heats and at the solid foundations that we will have in 15 days for the 1st Round of the European Championship. I want to thank the team again for the great work they have done with me this weekend.”
