Esteban Muth is Champion of Belgium
Tweetpress release
Just a week after meeting Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps, during the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, Esteban and O’Neill Muth set out once more for the Belgian Ardennes, this time to contest the Belgian Karting Cups on the kart track.
Imperious throughout the weekend, Esteban upheld the name for invincibility he had held since the very start of the season to don his first crown as Champion of Belgium. His day was made all the sweeter by his younger brother O’Neill joining him on the podium, after finishing in 3rd place.
Esteban Muth is definitely the young man to beat in Belgium in the Mini Parilla category (for 8-11 year olds). After winning the Belgian Mini Challenge, the prestige competition run in parallel to the X30 Challenge Europa in Mariembourg, the Brussels boy maintained his winning reputation in the French Community Championship. Already champion last year, Esteban is in an ideal position to retain his crown. But the young lad’s appetite for victories is insatiable and it was with extreme motivation that he arrived at the Francorchamps track for the Belgian Karting Cups.
“I knew the most important race would be the Final,” he confided. “But a complete championship depending on a single race was new to me. I was a bit worried that a technical problem or an accident might occur at any time, but everything went well … “
Throughout the weekend, in fact, Esteban confirmed his hold over the category. Taking pole position with a record time of 50.929 (he was the only one to break 51 seconds during the weekend), he beat his nearest rival by more than 4 tenths. In the Prefinal, he easily showed why he was the pre-Race favourite, leading the rest of the pack by more than 7 seconds. And in the Final, the young Brussels boy finished the job with a well-deserved win...
“It was Nico’s birthday… he’s my coach and mechanic,”Esteban recalled. “I had promised him I would do everything to become champion! Before the Final, he told me it was pointless to attack all the time, just to gain a lead of 7 seconds, if it involved taking risks. His advice was to attack from the start, and then when I had a slight lead not to take any risks, to be sure of winning the Final. And that’s what I did.”
After his title as French Community Champion in 2011, Esteban now took his first crown as Champion of Belgium. The result was well-deserved as since the start of the year the driver on the LH chassis had won 13 out of 14 Races. Without the mechanical problems which in the end did not prevent him from taking the IAME Belgian Mini Challenge, which was contested over four rounds, he would indeed have achieved a perfect season. Impressive!
In his wake, his younger brother O’Neill was not far from making it a family double for these Belgian Karting Cups. Although only in his first full season, the youngest of the Muth family also shone in the Francorchamps sun. “All the same, I wasn’t very happy after Qualifying,”he said. 
“I wanted to be following Esteban, but didn’t manage it. In the end I was only 3rd. For the Prefinal, I got off to a good start and I was following Esteban at the beginning of the Race. Then I had a great battle with my rivals to finish second. But in the Final, I missed my start and fell back a bit over the first two laps … and I didn’t manage to recover. But I’m still happy to join Esteban on the podium!”
In the evening after the Belgian Karting Cups, the smiles were again on the faces of the Muth family. “It was a wonderful day, confessed John, the father. “It was a first national title for Esteban. And so long as there are no disasters he should retain his title next week in the penultimate round of the Belgian IAME Challenge and the French Community Championship. O’Neill also drove well. Perhaps he showed his lack of experience a little at the start of the Final, but we shouldn’t forget that he’s only 9 years old. The combined result is magnificent and I would like to thank all of those who gave us the opportunity to enjoy such an experience: our sponsors, Nicolas, who coaches the two boys with such commitment and skill, our assistant and so on. So next week it’s Mariembourg, where I hope we take a third title in two years!”
