NXT GP Round 6
TT Junior Track, Assen, Netherlands
2 & 3 November 2024 | Track Length: 1,015m | Mechanic: Bastiaan van Loenen, Team PitParts
On 2 & 3 November 2024 we headed to Assen, home of Moto GP, for the final round of the NXT GP Dutch Open Championship Tillotson T4 kart series .
As this race weekend was the championship decider there was plenty of noise behind the scenes and quite a few new drivers wanting to try out a race weekend ahead of 2025. Needless to say we expected that this race weekend to be messy at best, and it didn’t dissapoint!
My race weekend started a few days early as school holidays meant that I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Emmen helping the team in the workshop to prepare for race weekend. We had a lots of laughs, cleaned a lot of tarp and thanks to Mathilde and Erik’s kindness and hospitality, I finally got to experience Dutch life with my first Hutspot!
On Thursday night we arrived at the track as the sun was setting and got to work unloading the truck and getting the paddock set up for the weekend ahead, which, thanks to an early start on Friday, rolled around pretty fast!.
Friday | Training (8 x 10 minute sessions), Saturday | Training (4x 10 minute sessions)
The training sessions on Friday and Saturday were pretty slow as my training engine was pretty much already at the end of its life after 1 hr. For the last session we bolted on my race engine for a final test of the full race set up. My kart had other ideas tho and in the first lap the chain snapped leaving me grateful for my mechanic Bastiaan who kept me calm as I headed into quali.
Massive thanks to Jorn Helder for the hard work on the spanners and laughs during the Friday sessions!
Saturday | Qualification (8 minutes) – CET 16:36
P10 (P4 in class)
For the first time this season, qualification took place on Saturday afternoon and with so many new drivers at the front of the line in Parc Ferme, I headed out on track with traffic ahead and work to do. After a couple of laps, my tyres were coming up to temperature and even with a lot of overtakes, my lap times were improving and on pace. By the 7th lap I had caught up to a slower driver who decided to defend and race (not for the first time in a quali this season!) rather than work with me in the slipstream to improve both of our qualifing times. After two frustrating laps behind him I was finally able to pass, but as he continued to throw divebombs and try to pass me throughout the last lap. The end result was a dissapointing qualification time set on the 6th lap (P10 overall (P4 in class with a equal lap time to P3)) while almost every other driver set their fastest times on the 8th or 9th lap as the track got faster during the session.
Sunday | Warm up (5 minutes)
P5
We arrived at the track early on Sunday morning to find it blanked in frost overnight. The close to freezing air temperature made for an extra cold drivers briefing on the start / finish line and for the first time this season I was happy to wear thermals under my suit. Even with the winter sun, the track was still freezing during the warmup - a short 5 minute - 5 lap session to calm the nerves. Unlike quali, I had clear air during the warm up and came quickly into flow with my kart to set the 5th fastest time overall - only 0.112 seconds behind the polesitter and a great start to the final race day of the 2024 NXT GP Dutch Open series.
Sunday | Race 1 (10 minutes) – CET 11:40 / NZT 23:40
P10 -> [P9] P15 (smashed off + constant hits + penalty)
The first race of the day was one of the craziest races I have ever experienced with the championship leaders in both the Senior and Senior Rookie classes taken out by the same driver (from another team) within a matter of laps - aka the theme of the day!
From my start position in P10 , I decided to play it safe at the start but after avoiding crashes in the second corner, I was smashed off track into the wet grass (surprise surprise…. again the same guy from quali) picking up a 5 second click bumper penalty. By the time I rejoined the track, I had lost 10 positions and had a lot of work to do to make my way up to the front. By lap 7 I had made my way through the field to 9th overall and had a decent gap back to the driver in P10 who had earlier decided to use my bumber as his left foot and hed been given me a lot of hits from behind to smash me off track as I tried to pull way - aka second theme of the day!
Unfortunately an incident during lap 9 bought out the first full course yellow of the season to bring the field back together for several laps in single file - not ideal for the drivers like myself with time penalties! Part way through the final lap the yellow flags were unexpectedly lifed to give way to half lap sprint to the line. End result - P9 over the line dropped to P15 after penalty.
Sunday | Race 2 (10 minutes) – CET 14:23 | NZT 02:23
P15 -> [P9] P6
I started the second race in P15 and had great start off the line to gain 5 positions by the third corner. As the race settled, P1 & 2 worked together to drive away. Behind them, another leading contender was having engine problems and driving the defending race of his life which meant a long single file train formed with most of the remaining 34 drivers. From my position in 9th, it was almost impossible to pass so was pretty happy to stay out of trouble and tick off the laps to hold my position. End result - P9 over the line promoted to P6 after the race.
Sunday | Race 3 (10 minutes) - CET 16:45 | NXT 04:45
P6- P31 -> DNF
CHAMPIONSHIP DECIDER
If there is one valuable lesson from this year, its that karting isnt a sport that only happens on track. It takes a team to build a champion, and this year I have been privileged to drive for the team who has dominated the NXT GP Dutch Open Tillotson T4 series in several classes - From the Minis to the Masters.
Walking into parc ferme for the championship decider, it took one look at my teammate Yermo Zanen to remind me of what I had promised myself I would do when it became clear I was out of the championship - bring home as many champions for our team!
Heading into the final race, Yermo was leading the Senior Rookie championship by just two points. Unfortunately he was smashed off in race 1, and bad luck again in race 2 meant that he was starting in P15 overall (P5 Rookie) - 4 positions behind the second placed driver in the rookie championship who was starting behind me as the 3rd rookie on the grid in P11. Even tho I was in a position that would have put me on the rookie podium, no day podium can ever trump helping secure a championship, which Yermo deserved to win after a solid performance all year long! Since Yermo needed to be finish ahead of the second placed driver after penalties, my race plan was to defend my position to keep the second placed driver behind me and, if needed, wave Yermo through for the win.
Simple…. If you dont spin meters into the formation lap coming out of parc ferme that is - the most rookie of mistakes, but I had completely underestimated how cold the track had become and my tyres felt like bricks as soon as I hit the tarmac. With a new overall start position of last (31), there was nothing left to do but to fire it up and go hard which is something I had had to do a lot this season!
By the end of lap 1 I had gained 10 positions, and by the fifth I was up another 6 positions to 15th overall - second place rookie behind Yermo. Realising that my position meant that I was leading a train of 5 rookies, including the second placed driver, I switched back to my original plan - championship mode. I took my foot off the accelerator to slow the train down by over a second a lap to protect the extra point for fastest lap and build a 5 second gap to Yermo, just in case he had a click over the line, and I let a slower driver who was not in the running for the championship through to create a point buffer. Needless to say after holding them back for several laps there were a lot of frustraited arms waving, and after defending deep into turn one, the slow wide exit sent the entire train up the inside to pass me. Two corners later I had faster exit in the hairpin than two slower rookie drivers in front and went hard for a gap between them for a drag race to the next corned. Unfortunately the inside driver turned in on me to close the gap and send me flying into the slow outside driver who also spun but was able to keep driving. For me it was race over…. and job done as Yermo was flying as he crossed the line a couple of laps later to take out the T4 Senior rookie championship in style (fastest lap), and just behind another teammate Jorn Jelle Bremer who took out the T4 Senior championship.
I don’t normally celebrate a DNF, but it gave me the chance to stand in the infield and cheer on my teammates as they drove their lap of honor. Awesome stuff!
Thank you to my mechanic Bastiaan, Team PitParts, my sponsors and to NXT GP and Tillotson Nederland for the organisation.