Euro Champions Crowned At TaG Challenge International
press release
The third and deciding round of the new TAG CHALLENGE INTERNATIONAL powered by IAME turned out to be as unpredictable as the weather at the ProKart Raceland circuit in Germany, when the fight for the first ever European TAG Challenge X30 titles went down to the wire in all four classes.
Above: The Senior X30 class
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
A mixture of wet and dry track conditions made it significantly more challenging for the competitive field in the race to determine the overall winners in the inaugural season. 2011 has proved to be a positive beginning to the international event organised by RGMMC Establishment, giving X30 competitors another level of racing in addition to their national series’, which have been hosted this year by some of the best CIK-homologated circuits in Europe.
Above: Champions from round 3 in Germany
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
IAME X30 Seniors
Only one second covered the senior field, where the championship hopes were still within reach for the first seven drivers at the top of the points table out of 47 who competed in 2011. Leading the way coming into the last round, Martin Van Hove (Intrepid/Eurokarting) held a six point lead over round 2 winner from Zuera, Jeremy Peclers (Kosmic/RSD Karting) also from Belgium. With the rain showers clearing in the lead-up to official timed practice Friday, Sebastien Le Gleuher (FA/Braun Racing) claimed pole position with a best lap of 52.173 ahead of fellow French driver John Barbe (Tecno/JBCompetition) and Spain’s Javier Rodelas (Energy/Energy Spain SL).
Le Gleuher also claimed a second pole following the qualifying heats the next day, winning two of the three races to start on row 1 for Sunday’s pre-final alongside Barbe, taking the honours in the remaining race. Ranking P3, Peclers was one of the day’s front-runners, while Javier Rodelas would start on grid 4 after missing out on row 1 with a top 10 finish and two 3rd places.
As the rain fell at the Bavarian circuit the pre-final lead was forfeited by Le Gleuher in the opening lap to Peclers, who increased it to a healthy gap by half-race distance to eventually take the win with 10 seconds over Van Hove. It was great racing, headed by the leading pack in an intense dice that only began to disperse as the 14 laps wound down. Barbe was unable to keep a hold on P2 so he took 3rd, while very little separated French duo Nicolas Amiel in 4th and Jeoffrey Rouchy, who were shadowed by German IAME X30 champion-elect Patrick Meister as they crossed the line. The experience of the senior class clearly showed on the very slippery track in such tough conditions.
In a disastrous start to the final, pole-sitter Peclers spun off on the first corner, so what looked like an almost certain bid for the European title disappeared and opened the way for Van Hove. He was overtaken by Barbe on lap 4, but immediately retaliated to regain the lead before the Frenchman repeated his attack two laps later. With Rouchy applying pressure in 3rd, they went three-wide down the back straight as the order shuffled and Van Hove dropped back to 6th, while Rouchy assumed the lead. Barbe fell to 4th, passed by Joffrey De Narda and Patrick Meister, as an amazing battle was going on beyond the top 10, led by Peclers through from ROF. Unfortunately, he collided in the last lap and ended up 16th, which was unbeknown to Van Hove running 8th, possibly thinking his hopes of becoming the 2011 champion had diminished.
Above: Senior X30 winner Jeoffrey Rouchy
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
It was a fantastic round 3 victory after 18 nail-biting laps for Jeoffrey Rouchy, followed by pre-final pace-setter Dominik Siegenthaler ahead of Barbe 3rd, De Narda and Le Gleuher. In 6th was William Westerloppe leading Amiel, Van Hove, Meister and Rodelas. Martin Van Hove secured the IAME X30 Senior crown in a brilliant finals showdown over Jeremy Peclers, with the efforts of Sebastien Le Gleuher paying off to take 3rd only one point clear of Nicolas Amiel.
Round 3 winner: Jeoffrey Rouchy – “It’s a great feeling after the terrible weekend we had in Zuera and great revenge. Thanks to the great work from Team OKS and a big thanks to Thierry Estre.”
2011 Champion: Martin Van Hove – “Thanks to my team Eurokarting and my mechanic! I’m happy to win the championship, but not so happy with my final today because we didn’t use the best tyre pressure for the race in the end. I know we could have had better results. The TAG Challenge International series has been very good to race in and the championship in the end was very close.”
1 – Jeoffrey Rouchy France Mirage/OKS
2 – Dominik Siegenthaler Switzerland Tonykart/Wenker Racing
3 – John Barbe France Tecno/JBCompetition
Above: Senior podium
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
IAME X30 Juniors
The confident French youngster Florian Latorre (Sodikart/Eurokarting.be) was on top of the leaderboard coming into the Wackersdorf event with a stronghold of 10 points over the Spanish round winner from last month Etienne Mordret (Zanardi/CBK). However, official timed practice left the junior X30 rivals at opposite ends of the time sheets after Latorre secured pole position with a 53.480 while his French compatriot struggled in the session to be more than half a second off the pace. Only 0.002 seconds separated P2 and 3 with Ulysse Delsaux (Kosmic/Ideal Kart by Cancelli) narrowly lapping quicker than Belgium’s Mathieu di Giacomo (Kosmic/Ideal Kart).
Latorre’s likely hat-trick was undone by Ivan Segura during the qualifying heats Saturday, when the Spaniard won the last race of the day for a front row start for the pre-final. Qualifying for the second row of the grid were Di Giacomo and Charles Machado, who was currently 3rd in the series.
Above: Junior X30, Charles Machado
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
Above: Junior X30 champion Florian Latorre
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
Choosing to start on the outside due to the rain in the initial final, Latorre was overtaken by Segura for the lead, but it was short-lived when he ran off and dropped to second last. The series leader easily stretched his advantage while the battle raged on behind and karts shuffled constantly in the 11-lapper. From P11 to 5th in the first lap, Mordret was chasing team-mate Bryan Elpitiya ahead of him, who also gained 4 spots to be running 2nd by lap 4 from Bruno de Oliveira in 3rd. Segura made his way back up to challenge for 2nd in the late stages, being shown the driving standards flag for making contact with Elpitiya that saw the French driver lose several positions. Machado was also part of the 5-kart chasing group trying to stay on the tar, which provided some non-stop stress for the mechanics watching anxiously. Latorre took the victory by 11.5 seconds to Segura in 2nd ahead of pace-setter Machado. Giacomo was 4th and Mordret 5th.
Still negotiating a wet track, the Junior final was another action-packed race with Florian Latorre again out in front from the lights and unchallenged as he drove to a well-deserved 2011 title, then followed less than three seconds behind by Di Giacomo for a comfortable 2nd. Segura and Machado had a head-to-head podium place battle for the majority of the laps; Segura being fastest overall, but making too many errors in his determined effort to claim 3rd. In the last lap, Etienne Mordret lost a final dash for the line to see Segura take 4th from him. However, he sufficiently sealed the vice champion’s title in the TAG CHALLENGE series to be just four points in front of Charles Machado. Regardless of the changing weather over the weekend and that most of the drivers had never driven at the ProKart location, only one kart didn’t finish both finals.
Above: Junior action
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
2011 Champion & Round 3 winner: Florian Latorre – “I’m very happy to have won the X30 Junior title with Eurokarting.be and Sodikart, both of whom I would like to thank. We have dominated the whole championship and I hope the end of the season will be as good for us as the result today.”
1 – Florian Latorre France Sodikart/Eurokarting.be
2 – Mathieu de Giacomo Belgium Kosmic/Ideal Kart
3 – Charles Machado France Tonykart/Suau Racing Kart
Above: Junior X30 podium
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
IAME X30 Masters
After winning the opening round of the TAG CHALLENGE INTERNATIONAL at Salbris, Luc Lefevre (Kosmic/RSD Karting) was on a mission in his first season racing to pursue the IAME X30 Masters title in 2011, knowing that it may not be easy. At the deciding round in Germany, the class was made up of only a few drivers, all of which came from Belgium, and as it turned out, the changing conditions and the luck on the day played a significant role in the final results. Lefevre was setting the pace in practice and claimed pole position in qualifying with 54.699, but as his opponents became more familiar with the circuit and knew they were in a position to be in the top 3 for the championship, it was all or nothing when it came down to the racing. Second fastest on the Friday was Luca Blasi (DR/Eurokarting.be) slightly quicker than team mate Philippe Pecheny.
Above: X30 Masters winner Luc Lefevre
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
Lefevre dominated the qualifying heats Saturday as well with 2 wins, but conceded one to Blasi who would start beside him on the front row of the pre-final. The first lap of the race Sunday morning was a tricky one for the pole-man in the wet, as he ran wide allowing Blasi to take the lead. Unfortunately, the #411 kart also lost control in the rain so Pecheny was running in P1. He also suffered the same fate, so by lap 2 it was Lefevre back in front for the provisional win until he was penalized for his kart having the incorrect width for the rear track. This handed the race honours to Pecheny who additionally set the best lap, with Blasi classified 2nd.
The X30 Masters final had another surprising start as Blasi snatched the lead, but over-steered through turn 2 where Pecheny failed to avoid colliding with him. Blasi rejoined the race and managed to complete the 18 laps for 3rd, also resulting in 3rd overall for the series. Although Pecheny was more than a second quicker than Lefevre, he couldn’t keep the championship leader from winning round 3 at Wackersdorf. This handed the 2011 winner’s trophy to an emotional Luc Lefevre with Philippe Pecheny as vice champ and a gap of 5.5 points to Luca Blasi.
Luc Lefevre – “I’m very pleased to have this victory in my first season racing and very happy to be the IAME X30 Masters Champion at the TAG Challenge. I want to say thank you to my team RSD Karting, my mechanic Joel and my team-mate Jeremy Peclers as well who has helped me a lot.”
1 – Luc Lefevre Belgium Kosmic/RSD Karting
2 – Philippe Pecheny Belgium DR/Eurokarting.be
3 – Luca Blasi Belgium DR/Eurokarting.be
Above: X30 Masters podium
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
IAME X30 Shifters
With the X30 Shifter category title still up for grabs at the final round as well, there were a few new entries to note including multiple German karting champions Patrick Kreutz and Mike Halder, together famous French driver, Julien Poncelet, about to make a return to competitive racing. It was Kreutz (Intrepid/AK Racing) who stamped his authority immediately as a local favourite to be fastest in practice and then take pole position in qualifying with a best lap of 50.259. Poncelet (Energy/Ideal Kart) was almost 2-tenths off this on P2 ahead of his team-mate Nicolas Harmuth.
Above: X30 Shifter winner Mike Halder
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
The former World Cup and European champion displayed his immense experience when it came to the heats; Poncelet unbeaten in all three races to ensure pole for the pre-final. He admitted that missing the feeling of having the competition of racing was his main reason for the comeback, as the seasoned driver racing for the first time this year dominated the program totally Saturday. In line for a shot at the title, Roman Paul had two 2nd places to secure a front row start grid as well, while the duo of Kreutz and Halder both featured in the top 5 to fill row 2.
A poor start in the rain saw Poncelet lose his lead in the pre-final to Paul, who was aiming to seal the series by the end of the 14 laps. Halder fought successfully to hold Kreutz out for P2 and later stole 1st from Paul, until running wide on the next corner to be back in 2nd. It was a good battle for places between Poncelet working his way through the field and Nicolas Harmuth, eventually split for 3rd and 5th at the chequered flag by another local Markus Haupler. Following the race, Paul was excluded for a technical infringement, so the championship remained unclaimed going into the afternoon final. Halder was the winner and Kreutz 2nd.
Above: Former Euro FA Champion Julian Poncelet made a return to competitive karting in the X30 Shifter
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
The final was nothing less than eventful as Poncelet failed to take his place on grid 4 due to a problem, therefore having to begin from ROF with Paul. The pole-sitter then lost his lead to Kreutz, who crashed out of contention soon after on the opening lap. It was Halder again in control with Nicolas Harmuth 2nd and Poncelet, who recovered well and had a much better start regardless of the greasy conditions. He struggled to keep the kart on track though, surrendering P3 to Paul some laps later. In lap 13 of 18, Harmuth had taken the lead, only to spin offline and hand the victory to Halder. Paul was quickest in 3rd and the 18-year old won the X30 shifter title, as 4th place went to another Belgian, Olivier Meurens. Poncelet came in underweight, therefore Patrick Harmuth finished 5th. The Vice Champion’s trophy for 2011 was awarded to two drivers on equal points; round 1 winner Emilien Grosso, who’d taken both finals at the first ever edition of the TAG CHALLENGE INTERNATIONAL held back in April, along with round 3 winner Mike Halder.
Round 3 winner: Mike Halder – “It’s good to win at home in Germany because we have a lot of fans watching today. I’m happy with the result seeing that I’ve only been driving the X30 shifter for three weeks. Sunday in the rain we were fast and able to be at the front to win the finals. Thanks go to Wildkart, my father as my mechanic and my family for supporting me.”
2011 Champion: Roman Paul – “It was a surprise to win. I didn’t have the luck in the finals, but the Energy Kart package was very good here. Thanks to my father, who is actually my team ‘Ravet Racing’ and Eurokarting for their support.”
1 – Mike Halder Germany Wildkart/Wildkart Racing
2 – Nicolas Harmuth France Kosmic/Ideal Kart
3 – Roman Paul Belgium Energy/Ravet Racing
Above: Podium for X30 Shifters
pic - Jenni Wade / RGMMC Media
James Geidel from RGMMC says “The TAG Challenge International created a lot of interest during the season from many drivers and teams who are looking for a higher level of competition above and beyond their own national IAME TAG Challenge series. Just as it is with every new championship that begins, it naturally always takes some time to become more established, but we believe the racing has been really good up until now and at every round we’ve had new competitors join the series, so it has shown it has the obvious potential to grow. We’re looking forward to the TCI with IAME in 2012.”
- All event and championship results from the 2011 TAG CHALLENGE INTERNATIONAL can be found at the official website of the series – www.tagchallenge.com
- Check out YOU TUBE for highlights, interviews and racing action by searching for - RGMMC TAG CHALLENGE 2011 WACKERSDORF and also SALBRIS & ZUERA to see the videos from all 2011 rounds.
2011 CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS – TAG Challenge International
IAME X30 Seniors
1 – Martin Van Hove Belgium Intrepid/Eurokarting.be
2 – Jeremy Peclers Belgium Kosmic/RSD Karting
3 – Sebastien Le Gleuher France FA/Braun Racing
IAME X30 Juniors
1 – Florian Latorre France Sodikart/Eurokarting.be
2 – Etienne Mordret France Zanardi/CBK
3 – Charles Machado France Tonykart/Suau Racing Kart
IAME X30 Masters
1 – Luc Lefevre Belgium Kosmic/RSD Karting
2 – Philippe Pecheny Belgium DR/Eurokarting.be
3 – Luca Blasi Belgium DR/Eurokarting.be
IAME X30 Shifters
1 – Roman Paul Belgium Energy/Ravet Racing
2 – Emilien Grosso France Intrepid
3 – Mike Halder Germany Wildkart/Wildkart Racing
