Resilient in the Rain in Genk

Round 4 of the Benelux championships was an opportunity to score some strong points on a track I did well on last year. It was to prove more of a challenge than I anticipated.

With an extra day of testing on Thursday I expected to get rid of any rustiness ahead of official practice on Friday but instead we ended up chasing our tails unable to find a problem that was robbing us of a second a lap (an eternity at this level). Running out of options, the team asked former World Champion Danny Kierle to jump in and see if he could find the problem. He couldn’t, so the risky but necessary decision was taken to swap the trusty Alonso chassis for Kart Republic.

Satyurday dawned with constant rain foecast. I was going to have to drive the KR machine for the first time in wet conditions knowing that qualifiying might well be dry. It is at times like these that teamwork pays off and Team Evolution and mechanic JP were able to provide me with set ups with which i could attack the track aggressively.

I qualified reasonably well in 13th in my half of the draw on a drying track and would have been a lot higher but I was baulked on my last flying lap. Knowing I had the pace I started my three heats in 13th an steadily made my way forward securing a 5th, 8th and 6th place meaning I would line up for the final in 10th.

Finally as the final approached on Sunday the weather improved meaning we would start on slicks but I knew I wold have my work cut out. I was confident in the set up from the team but there had been no opportunity to finesse the settings to my driving style so I would have to adapt. I did. Starting 10th I held my own, only falling to 11th in the latter stages as a more expereinced driver with better tyres was able to outpace me.

A great learning weekend which taught me the importance of resilience and teamwork in delivering results in sport. Once dropped rounds are taken into account I am standing 11th in the championship standings and 3rd rookie with one round left at Mariembourg.