Eclectic Summer For Andrick
press release
Andrick Zeen did not go on holiday in July, but had a pretty busy beginning of summer from a sporting point of view, marked by top level performances. It must be said that the American driver from the Sodi Team does not hesitate to engage on several fronts, or rather categories, at the same time. A regular in KF2, he also won one heat in the Euro Endurance Series in Normandy and put in some brilliant performances at the first round of the U18 World Championship in Wackersdorf, Germany.
Sarthe RTKF is the name of one of the most prestigious teams in endurance karting. Andrick had the chance to return to this discipline at season's start, as member of the Sarthe RTKF 2 crew - and on a Sodi chassis, needless to say! With his team mates Maxime Bidard and Jean-François Chaussy, Andrick proved to be equal to the challenge by winning the "6 Heures de Normandie", on the Essay circuit in early July, at the end of two consecutive, high-paced three-hour races. The Euro Endurance series counts for the French Endurance Championship and Andrick's team is now 10th in the standings.
The greatest innovation in 2010 came from the launch of a brand new World Championship by the CIK-FIA (International federation of karting). Reserved to 15 to 18 year-old drivers, it aims at reducing costs considerably as well as ensuring drivers the chance to race on equal footing, in order to bring out drivers' talent and not just the effectiveness of their equipment. All drivers have identical engines assigned by random draw and supplied by Parolin under the FIM brand. Half-way between KF3 and KF2, these reliable mechanics require high driving skills. Again on a Sodi chassis, Andrick produced right away some remarkable performances, in front of a demanding international crowd. 15th in timed qualifying out of 70 drivers from all over the world, he started to battle in the top 10 during the qualifying heats. As combative as always and tenacious from the first to the very last lap, Andrick really liked what he was doing up to when another driver hit him violently, wounded him to a knee and forced him to retire. Despite this handicap, Andrick resumed the fight and finished 11th in the last heat. Unfortunately, the accident in the third race cost him a lot in terms of points and prevented him from reaching the final phases, when he was about to reach the 20th place. In the consolation final, Andrick fought bravely in 4th before he lost some ground because of the pain. This promising round ended for the young American with a mix of satisfaction and disappointment. The qualify of performances shown in Germany is also worth mentioning and Andrick is now looking forward to the next round of the U18 World Championship in Spain, on the Alcaniz track, at the end of August.
To conclude this very busy month of July Andrick entered the third GPO of the season with the support of his friend Preston Newberry, team manager of G-Phactory, for mechanics. The Sodi Racing Team worked hard in KF2 and Andrick was able to fight effectively to gain four places in the French Championship, where he is currently 11th. His results in progress include his 11th place in Saturday's pre-final and a 13th place in Sunday's final. These performances were even more significant given that participation to the GPO is growing both in numbers and quality.
