Tillotson NK Round 1
Erftlandring Kerpen, Germany
15 & 16 February 2024 | Track Length: 1,107m | Mechanic: Bastiaan van Loenen, Team PitParts
New year, new season and a new championship to kick things off - the first ever KNAF official Tillotson Nederlands Kampionship organised by Formula Karting.
Round one saw us heading to Germany to battle it out in wintery conditions over the kerbs at the Erftlandring in Kerpen. With a lot of new drivers and the introduction of a Senior Pro class, Kerpen decided to throw everything at us - from freezing temperatures and wind, toovernight snow that left the track covered in ice and unraceable come race day.
Sunday | Qualification (8 minutes) – CET 13:01
P14
After an awesome job by the crew to clear the snow and ice from the track, we learned at 11am that we would be racing with a revised schedule that put the Senior Pro class first on track for the warm up ahead a reduced the number of races and laps. Being first on track made for a challenging midday warm up as some parts of the track still covered in ice, and some dry and sunny - all and all good enough!
By 13:00, the track was mainly dry so we changed engines and set up in record time and switched over to a new set of slicks.. Unfortunately I took too long to come up to speed and getting in flow with the new set up and with a lot of traffic to get through, no slipstream meant for a dissapointing 14th place on the grid for race 1.
Sunday | Race 1 (10 minutes + 1 lap) – CET 14:23
P14 -> (P9) P11
The first race of the championship bought out a lot of clickbumpers (14!) and some pretty dirty battles . I was able to hold out and crossed the line in P9 but dropped back to P11 after penalties.
Sunday | Final (10 minutes + 1 lap) – CET 16:03
P11 -(P11) P9
Starting the second and final race in 11th meant for another midfield start and plenty of chaos in the first corner with a driver spinning in front of me dropping me down to the order to 20th. I managed to drive myself back up to 7th place until the last lap when I was taken out mid corner, falling back down to cross the line in 11th across, 9th after the first corner click bumber penalty.
Thank you to my mechanic Bastiaan, Team PitParts, my sponsors and to Formula Karting and Tillotson Nederland for the organisation.