The 2024 European championship tracks: Val D'Argenton analyzed by Lorenzo Travisanutto
- Francesca Zito
- Apr 24, 2024
- 3 min read
The CIK-FIA Karting European championship is back for the second round, this time in Val D'Argenton, France. The OK and OKJ classes are ready to fight again after the first round of Valencia, and we asked the multiple times world champion Lorenzo Travisanutto to analyze the track that will host the second stage of the championship.
Less tyre degradation and more chances to overtake
While talking about the Spanish track of Valencia we highlighted how the tyre degradation was a key point for the management of the whole weekend and especially the final, in Val D'Argenton this problem is not so prominent. The track, in fact, has good grip and this allows drivers to stay very close to those in front without suffering or risking to worsen in terms of performance, as we noticed at the round of the COTF held ten days ago on the same track.
“Compared to Valencia there is less tyre degradation, the track itself has good grip, and having fewer fast corners than Valencia is much less aggressive on the tyres.”
The races of the Champions of the Future were in fact tight, with many drivers within a few tenths, many overtakes and many crashes as well: there are in fact many spots where you can overtake, so drivers are likely to cover a lot of space, and this can lead to contacts.
Key points: qualifying and consistency
Lorenzo Travisanutto underlines how the qualifying and the consistency throughout the whole weekend are fundamental in Val D'Argenton. In a track where the top speed does not exceed 125 km/h, overtaking takes a lot of time and drivers in front are less at risk of crashing. In addition, you gain lots of points during qualifying and heats, so getting a good result only in the final may not be enough.
“Qualifying is very important, because then during the race everyone defends: it is easy to overtake, but you tend to lose a lot of time. [At COTF] Those who managed to be consistent made a difference.”
In the round of the Champions of the Future, for the OK class, it was the Kart Republic driver Thibaut Ramaekers who stood out from the others, with his consistency and speed during all the heats, to then reach the win in the final with a gap of 2.8s on the runner-up, Joe Turney.
“Every detail counts, you can't go wrong: with a mistake in qualifying, you can easily drop down to the middle of the standings.”
Predictions and favorites for the second round
As for Valencia, we expect little to no change compared to what happened at the COTF in Val D’Argenton, rain permitting:
“not having raced in the wet yet there is this uncertainty, since there are chances of rain.”
So, only completely different track conditions would turn the tables around. Amongst the favorite teams we certainly find Kart Republic, CRG and Parolin; a bit behind from the first round is Birel, that at the Champions of the Future struggled more, even though Morgatto managed to finish his weekend in fifth position in the Senior class.
“In terms of driving and speed Ramaekers made the difference. All things being equal, he's the one to beat and we can expect the same results as the COTF.”
For the Junior class, the eyes are still on drivers like Schaufler, Van Langendonck and Costoya, despite the latter was forced to a great comeback in the race ten days ago, finishing in the top15 after recovering 12 places. Minns and Arias are instead forced to make up for it after the negative weekend at the COTF: the two drivers who in the initial round of the European championship were beside Van Langendonck on the podium, have not even managed to get to the final in Val D'Argenton. Also, for this round, do not forget about Coronel and VictoryLane, who have closed the appointment of the Champions of the Future of Val D'Argenton in P6, fighting with the top teams and showing a strong performance, eager to achieve a good result after the DNF at the inaugural round.
Comments