27/09/2017
2017 RGMMC Rotax Euro Challenge Champions Awarded in Castelletto.
After an exciting season, the RGMMC Rotax Euro Challenge 2017 season came to a close with the fourth Kart Prix, that took place in Castelletto 7 laghi circuit in Italy. Four categories took it to the track for one last time for the champions to be decided, and tickets for the first two championship finishers of Junior, Senior and DD2 were awarded for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals which will take place in Portimao in November.
After a weekend of intense racing, Victor Obarzanek (Mini), Tijmen Van Der Helm (Junior), Jordan Brown-Nutley (Senior), and Ville Viiliainen (DD2) emerged victorious at the drop of the checkered flag.
The series titles went to Robert De Haan (Mini), Tijmen Van Der Helm (Junior), Jordan Brown-Nutley (Senior), Constantin Schoel (DD2) and Patrick Weinstock (DD2 Masters).
Mini
From Friday’s qualifying Obarzanek showed his speed, snatching the pole position from De Haan. Gianni Andrisani qualified third right behind them.
During Saturday’s heats, Obarzanek started strong winning the first, but couldn’t hold De Haan behind him in the other two, qualifying second for Sunday’s prefinal. Similarly, Reuters managed to outperform Andrisani with one fourth and two third places, getting third position at the end of the qualifying heats.
On Sunday morning Obarzanek was holding a little last lap surprise: while De Haan took the lead at the start of the race and maintained for the 10 out of 11 laps, on the last lap Obarzanek managed to overtake and make it stick to the end. This way, he ensured he was the one on the ideal starting position for the final, with De Haan behind him. Andrisani and Reuters exchanged positions several times in a long battle for third, with Andrisani crossing the line ahead of the two.
Come time for the final, both the leaders had shown their intentions, and De Haan took the start first. Obarzanek quickly overtook and held his place just to lose it before the end of the race. Drama unfolded however after the flag as De Haan was penalized for getting an unfair advantage at the start, and similarly Reuters in third place was penalized for an incident on track, handing this way the win to Obarzanek, with Sen Roodenburg receiving an unexpected second and Andrisani in third.
Robert De Haan was awarded first, Gianni Andrisani second, and Kris Haanen for this year’s Mini championship.
Junior
This year’s most prominent two junior drivers seemed from the beginning to be the ones to challenge for the race as well as the title. Mike Van Vugt took pole position, with Tijmen Van Der Helm challenging, but finishing in third. Jasin Ferati slotted in between the two in second place.
Van Der Helm managed to get the best of the three on Saturday’s qualifying heats, winning two and coming second in one, with Van Vugt coming second after two second places and one win. Jasin Ferati had two consistent third places, and despite a fifth in the last heat he managed to get third place for Sunday’s pre-final.
Van Vugt made a great start in the pre-final to take the lead but quickly lost it to Van Der Helm. However a long battle between the two with also Luca Leistra and Ferati saw him lose another two positions in the end, with Ferati eventually finishing second and Leistra third, with only 0.7” separating the four first.
In the final race, Van Der Helm easily took the lead at the start, but Van Vugt was determined to fight back from the defeat of the pre-final and by the end of the first lap he came back from fourth to grab the lead. It didn’t last long however with Van Der Helm taking back his position by lap 4 and staying there until the end. Van Vugt finished second and Leistra got the last podium place from Ferati.
The exact same podium finishers topped this year’s junior championship standings, with Van Der Helm being awarded the champion’s crown, Van Vugt second and Leistra third.
Senior
In a surprising Friday qualifying practice session, none of the championship leaders managed a top-three lap time. Robert Kindervater got the pole position, with Ryan Norberg second and Myles Apps third. Jordan Brown-Nutley only managed a 9th place, with Felix Warge even worse on 15th and only Noah Roovers getting close with a 5th place.
With such result, the qualifying heats were going to be intense from the beginning. While Kindervater and Apps battled it out for first and second with Apps edging out Kindervater, Brown-Nutley made the most impressive comeback and finished the day in third, with his main challengers Roovers and Warge back in 7th and 13th.
Quickly with the start of the pre-final Apps lost out to Kindervater, who regained the position a lap later. A move from Brown-Nutley saw him leading for a lap, but to quickly lose the place to Lauri Leppa. After a few laps however Hannes Morin, making a very good charge to the front, took the lead and crossed the line in first. Brown-Nutley finished second and Apps third.
Morin made a good start, heading Brown-Nutley, but was soon passed by Apps who lead the race for several laps. Brown-Nutley took charge from mid-race on until the end, doing what he had to to win the championship, and maintaining his lead till the end to win the race. Kindervater spend most of the race close behind Apps, but was never able to pass, with Leppa putting on a good show, passing for third and eventually crossing the finish line 0.077” behind Apps to complete the podium.
Brown-Nutley collected most of the points and topped the seniors championship standings winning half the finals and half the prefinals of the season, with none of his main competitors being able to top that. Second place went to Felix Warge and third place to Noah Roovers.
DD2
The fastest category in the Rotax Euro Challenge started off for the last time this season with the finn Ville Viiliainen setting the fastest lap time during the qualifying practice. Championship favorite Constantin Schoell was a close second, only 0.017” behind. Third was a special appearance, this season’s DR factory team driver Mauro Simoni. Meanwhile there were some other special names making an appearance, with most notable Max Timmermans making the jump from seniors and qualifying fourth and a highlight from previous seasons Xen de Ruwe making a comeback but only qualifying down in 11th. Other championship challengers Kevin Ludi and Max Fleischmann only qualified fifth and 16th.
Viiliainen proved to be the strongest drivers also in the qualifying heats, winning two out of three, while Schoell right behind him in the first two won the last heat and qualified second. Simoni with two thirds and a seventh maintained his third place after Saturday’s qualifying heats.
Despite an early challenge Rauer, Viiliainen continued his winning run in the prefinal, with Rauer having to settle for second while Schoell couldn’t come any closer than third. In the meantime there was some more drama behind, with Simoni not classified in the session, and Ludi troubled at the back of the race, at the same time that Xen de Ruwe was making a great progress through to seventh, ten places up from his starting position!
The final started with Schoell determined to demonstrate his worth to win this year’s title, but only starting third behind Rauer and Viiliainen. Viiliainen got away first, and Rauer maintained his place at the start, but Schoell setting by far the fastest lap of the race quickly passed second. While he didn’t manage to pass and the trio maintained these positions all until the end, they all finished within a striking distance off each other.
The DD2 title went to Schoell, but Viiliainen with this win managed to jump to second place despite having missed the second round in Salbris. Max Fleischmann who had been one of the favorites finished the championship in third.
With Kart-Prix 4, the RGMMC Rotax Max Euro Challenge 2017 season came to a close, and now it’s on for its winning representatives to challenge for the top crown at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Portimao in November.
You can find more information, photos and media clips from the race on the official website www.rotaxmaxeurochallenge.com
