27 July 2015 |
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Kiwi Marcus Armstrong has has scored the biggest win of his career to date, winning the final round of the CIK-FIA European KF Championship in Sweden.
Driving with the Tony Kart Racing Team, Armstrong only qualified 19th in the 47-kart field. Heat results of 7th, 9th, 18th and 4th saw hims stuck in the mid-pack and ranked 19th after the heats. A strong recovery in the pre-final (6th) set up a decent run in the 25-lap final.
Having not scored any points in the previous two rounds, the win rocketed Marcus to 9th in the Championship.
Tony Kart also won KF Junior, the Danish driver Christian Lundgaard winning the round and the European Championship. Ben Hanley won the Senior KF title for Croc.
Meanwhile, a great run from Aussie Oscar Piastri effectively came to an end in the first turn of his pre-final, where only the top 17 would transfer.
Above: Oscar & Alex
pic - Salvestrin
"(Starting 9th) I was hit from behind (again) in turn 1 and spun putting me back to last position and a long way back on lap one" he wrote on Facebook. "I drove up to 27th, setting the 2nd fastest lap of the race, so that's at least something positive. Overall, I was happy with my pace for the whole series and I have consistently had top 10 speed.
"I'd like to again thank my sponsors HP Tuners, IAME, Remo Racing and my team Kosmic Ideal Kart managed by Frank Cancelli, the best mechanic Alex Baten, my mum and dad, sisters, grandparents and all my family and friends for your support and messages."
Points scored at the opening round placed Oscar 26th in the Championship.
press release
Asum Ring, a breath-taking European Championship
The finale of the European CIK-FIA Championship couldn’t have been more exciting than this. The event, hosted by the Asum Ring facility in Kristianstad (S), was reserved to the KF and KFJ categories: the names of the new 2015 European Champions of the two international categories were decided at the last bends of exceptionally heated races. The winners of the two Finals were Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard (both on Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega): it was after their victory that the British Ben Hanley (Croc-TM-Vega) became the new KF Champion, while in KFJ it was the Danish Lundgaard who, thanks to his victory in the last round, grabbed the title.
Above: All smiles from Marcus Armstrong on the KF podium
pic - Press.net Images
Armstrong incredible winnner, while Hanley is the new KF Champion
Marcus Armstrong (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) was the protagonist in KF: he had a spectacular off-track excursion on Saturday with no consequences, he closed the gap in the Prefinal and accomplished the recovery mission in the Final, winning the race.
The driver from New Zealand started from the third row and battled for the top positions against the British drivers Ben Hanley (Croc-TM-Vega) and Tom Joyner (Zanardi-TM-Vega), the Danish Nicklas Nielsen (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) and the American Juan Correa (Energy-TM). This group of five was then reached by the Dutch Richard Verschoor (Exprit-Vortex-Vega) and the German Hannes Janker (CRG-Parilla-Vega), all eager to push hard.
With Nielsen out of the games, eventually, it was Armstrong who won ahead of Verschoor and Joyner. This result, however, didn’t help Joyner in his attempt to climb the standings: the winner of the Championship is Ben Hanley, the new European Champion.
Above: Marcus greets the chequered flag
pic via Armstrong/facebook
Rnk | No. | Driver | Equipment | Gap | Best Lap |
1 | 156 | Armstrong, Marcus | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 51.701 | |
2 | 102 | Verschoor, Richard | Exprit / Vortex / Vega | 1.317 | 51.565 |
3 | 144 | Joyner, Tom | Zanardi / TM Racing / Vega | 2.554 | 51.719 |
4 | 107 | Janker, Hannes | CRG / Parilla / Vega | 4.004 | 51.693 |
5 | 133 | Hanley, Ben | Croc Promotions / TM Racing / Vega | 4.135 | 51.692 |
6 | 106 | Basz, Karol | Kosmic / Vortex / Vega | 5.172 | 51.691 |
7 | 128 | Roes Andersen, Casper | FA Kart / Vortex / Vega | 5.788 | 51.849 |
8 | 126 | Correa, Juan | Energy Corse / TM Racing / Vega | 6.405 | 51.806 |
9 | 105 | Van Leeuwen, Martijn | CRG / TM Racing / Vega | 7.542 | 51.721 |
10 | 134 | Jochimsen, Andreas | Kosmic / Vortex / Vega | 12.431 | 51.554 |
11 | 123 | Travisanutto, Lorenzo | Tony Kart / TM Racing / Vega | 12.846 | 51.698 |
12 | 127 | Lessennes, Benjamin | CRG / Parilla / Vega | 15.904 | 51.883 |
13 | 151 | Vips, Juri | FA Kart / Vortex / Vega | 17.237 | 51.786 |
14 | 141 | Tiihonen, Niklas | Kosmic / Vortex / Vega | 18.222 | 52.166 |
15 | 114 | Skaras, Emil | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 18.578 | 51.923 |
16 | 145 | Dahlberg, Alexander | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 19.949 | 51.816 |
17 | 147 | Nerman, Hugo | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 20.145 | 52.121 |
18 | 122 | Haaga, Anton | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 20.202 | 51.819 |
19 | 125 | Verkroost, Bard | Croc Promotions / TM Racing / Vega | 21.142 | 52.013 |
20 | 152 | Galletto, Francesco | Zanardi / TM Racing / Vega | 23.014 | 52.127 |
21 | 137 | Barnicoat, Benjamin | Birel Art / Parilla / Vega | 24.03 | 51.965 |
22 | 155 | Reicher, Simon | FA Kart / Vortex / Vega | 24.432 | 52.158 |
23 | 142 | Valtanen, Juho | Kosmic / Vortex / Vega | 33.773 | 52.131 |
24 | 189 | Lassen, Julius | Energy Corse / TM Racing / Vega | 51.364 | 51.858 |
25 | 188 | Tillett, Laura | Zanardi / TM Racing / Vega | 53.322 | 52.102 |
26 | 192 | Thorsen, Kristian | Kosmic / Vortex / Vega | 56.081 | 52.31 |
27 | 112 | Haapalainen, Tuomas | Croc Promotions / TM Racing / Vega | 1 Lap | 51.799 |
28 | 190 | Becamel, François | Kosmic / Parilla / Vega | 8 Laps | 51.886 |
29 | 111 | Marcu, Dionisios | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 12 Laps | 52.289 |
30 | 149 | Vigano, Matteo | Top Kart / Parilla / Vega | 13 Laps | 52.396 |
31 | 101 | Nielsen, Nicklas | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 16 Laps | 51.941 |
32 | 135 | Peltola, Olli | Croc Promotions / TM Racing / Vega | 24 Laps | 59.601 |
33 | 120 | Vartanyan, Alexander | Tony Kart / Vortex / Vega | 25 Laps | |
104 | Tiene, Felice | CRG / Parilla / Vega | Excluded | 51.676 |
Lundgaard beats the odds and wins the KFJ title
Christian Lundgaard (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega), in the final phase of the round, recovered the positions he had lost in the Heats: the poor result he scored in one of yesterday's races prevented him from starting from a good position. Thanks to his win in the Prefinal 1 this morning, Lundgaard immediately laid his cards on the table: he aimed at the Title even though he trailed by a rather ramarkable amount of points from the current leader, Kenny Roosens (Kosmic-Parilla-LeCont).
The Belgian, anyway, did not take part in the Final, where Lundgaard took an early lead. The driver of the Ward Racing team won race and Championship. Marta Garcia (FA Kart-TM-LeCont) nearly scored the second position, but the Brazilian Felipe Drugovich (Cosmic-Vortex-LeCont) overtook her on the last lap and became the runner-up. Garcia placed third. Roosens only placed third in the Championship, leaving the second position to the Indonesian Presley Martono (Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont).
Above: KF-J podium
pic - Press.net Images
Rnk | No. | Driver | Equipment | Gap | Best Lap |
1 | 208 | Lundgaard, Christian | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 52.885 | |
2 | 209 | Drugovich Felipe | Kosmic / Vortex / LeCont | 3.274 | 52.919 |
3 | 218 | Garcia Lopez, Marta | FA Kart / TM Racing / LeCont | 4.295 | 53.064 |
4 | 222 | Viscaal, Bent | Tony Kart / Parilla / LeCont | 5.727 | 53.036 |
5 | 241 | Collet, Caio | Kosmic / Vortex / LeCont | 6.392 | 53.083 |
6 | 221 | Lloveras Brunet, Xavier | Zanardi / TM Racing / LeCont | 7.241 | 53.158 |
7 | 204 | Martono, Presley | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 10.254 | 52.863 |
8 | 212 | Maini, Kush | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 11.234 | 53.081 |
9 | 247 | Watt, Noah | FA Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 13.142 | 53.156 |
10 | 206 | Lindh, Rasmus | Ricciardo Kart / Parilla / LeCont | 13.246 | 53.028 |
11 | 202 | Petrov, Artem | DR / TM Racing / LeCont | 13.514 | 52.952 |
12 | 207 | Fernandez Wahbeh, Sebastian | FA Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 14.253 | 53.133 |
13 | 217 | Novalak, Clément | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 15.813 | 53.144 |
14 | 244 | Hesse, Max | Croc Promotions / TM Racing / LeCont | 18.536 | 53.332 |
15 | 248 | Worship, Sami | FA Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 18.602 | 53.18 |
16 | 255 | Ptacek, Petr | Formula K / Parilla / LeCont | 19.331 | 53.291 |
17 | 213 | Lappalainen, Konsta | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 21.358 | 53.29 |
18 | 228 | Shvetsov, Ivan | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 21.763 | 53.122 |
19 | 260 | Petelet, Milane | Kosmic / Parilla / LeCont | 22.682 | 53.246 |
20 | 203 | Martinez Merono, Eliseo | Praga / Parilla / LeCont | 23.674 | 53.208 |
21 | 210 | Yueyang, Sun | FA Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 24.024 | 53.128 |
22 | 286 | Ohlin, Simon | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 24.708 | 53.069 |
23 | 233 | Vesti, Frederik | Energy Corse / TM Racing / LeCont | 26.981 | 53.298 |
24 | 220 | Milesi, Charles | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 28.945 | 53.291 |
25 | 271 | Giardelli, Alessandro | Tony Kart / LKE / LeCont | 29.014 | 53.202 |
26 | 254 | De Wilde, Ugo | Kosmic / Vortex / LeCont | 30.078 | 53.409 |
27 | 227 | Serravalle, Antonio | Exprit / Vortex / LeCont | 30.779 | 53.398 |
28 | 250 | Simmenauer, Jean Baptiste | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 31.054 | 53.168 |
29 | 246 | Höyer, Mikkel | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 31.386 | 53.239 |
30 | 257 | Louko, Daniel | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | 53.046 | 53.421 |
31 | 214 | Milell, Noah | Exprit / Vortex / LeCont | 59.368 | 53.219 |
32 | 205 | De Pauw, Ulysse | Birel Art / Parilla / LeCont | 10 Laps | 53.059 |
33 | 234 | Vidales, David | Energy Corse / TM Racing / LeCont | 19 Laps | 55.224 |
226 | Persson, Sebastian | Tony Kart / Vortex / LeCont | Excluded | 53.849 |