2017

April 10, 2017

This was the first race in the Senior class for me.

I neither practiced on a Rotax Senior before this event, nor did we have a Rotax Senior engine on hands! On Wednesday we travelled to Wackersdorf and on Thursday we prepared the chassis to what we thought is competitive. On Saturday, just in the right time to the qualifying session and minutes before closing of the parc fermee, we were ready with the new setup. I hit the 15th best lap time out of 45 entrees. A result that was acceptable under this circumstances. In the first heat I finished on the eighth position. In the second heat I finished on the 12th position. This meant that I could start in the final races from 11th. The final race was a blast! I had an incredible speed and could finish on the fifth position. I became seventh in the overall scoring of the event and best team driver of Woik Motorsport!

April, 2017

On Saturday, the sun was shining and we had exactly one practice to find the optimum setting in finally dry conditions. Then we got down to business and I finished 19th in the qualifying practice. This without knowing the correct tire pressure and a reasonably suitable gear ratio. Unfortunately, we were disqualified. I was two kilos short on the scales. We had missed the opportunity to get on the scales during the last practice session. I had to start the race from last place on the grid. I got away at the start without any problems and finished 19th. In the second race I even finished 18th. On Sunday, the weather was brilliant again and I had a better starting position in the pre-final. From 21st on the grid I raced up to 10th position! But then dropped back to 17th. A good start, but then a driver braked in front of me and I spun in the first corner.

May 5 - 7, 2017

On Friday was training, again in the rain, and on Saturday the qualifying practice and the two elimination heats. I finished 31st in the qualifying practice. After the two heats I was 24th. So I was able to improve well and qualify for the finals! Only the first 34 drivers make it to the finals on Saturday.

On Sunday I finished the pre-final in 25th place but was given a time penalty which dropped me back to 28th place. In the final, the action picked up again and I finished 20th. This is a very good result for me and the English Forza Racing team and shows a good learning curve compared to the previous race, a week earlier, on the same track.

May 26 - 28, 2017

It was very hot in Kerpen! Unfortunately, we missed out on a place in the final. In the last heat I had to stop in the third corner. A very ambitious driver came up behind me and drove over the kart. The result was a completely demolished kart, including a torn off radiator. In practice and qualifying, we were able to take another step forward and I was then only two to three tenths of a second off the fastest drivers.

June, 2017

We traveled to Wackersdorf late in the evening on Thursday for the ADAC Kart Masters. We were able to come to an arrangement with the 3G team at short notice. It was already clear to us during practice on Friday that it was going to be another tough race. Saturday's qualifying practice put me in 21st position on the grid. Not necessarily a very good starting position, but still an inside position. In the first race I had a crash and couldn’t finish the race. That meant a lot of repair work and the kart was ready just in time for the second race, which I was able to finish in 21st place. In the first run, the pre-final, I finished in 19th place. This meant that I was able to move up one starting row for the final run. I crossed the finish line in 12th place! Top 15 finish achieved!

July, 2017

In perfect but very hot weather, I was able to prepare well during official practice on Friday. I was also on the road with my new chassis. This time everything worked, from the set-up, data management and the optimum engines to the motivation. Apart from minor driving errors, I was now able to get within 3/10 of a second of the lead. The data analysis even showed that I was among the five fastest in the theoretical lap times! However, the qualifying practice did not live up to expectations with 27th. I got stuck behind a slow-moving driver. Starting in Group C, I was able to show my performance in the two heats. I finished 9th in the first heat and 14th in the second heat without an accident! So the finals were secured! I finished 19th in the first final and 16th in the second final. This is a very good result because it shows my improvement in this hard-fought championship. In this race, I was able to leave well-known drivers behind and further reduce the gap to the top drivers.

August, 2017

The fourth race of the DKM went really well. Again with very hot weather and a lot of grip, I was able to really strike. Although I didn't reach the top ten in the final race, I was very satisfied with 13th place. During the warm-up for the qualifying practice I had a fatal engine failure and had to use the spare engine for qualifying and had to settle for 25th place. I finished 11th in the first heat but was given a five-second time penalty because my front spoiler was indented. A driver in front of me had spun and I collided with him. The resulting 18th place was difficult to accept. I was able to finish 15th in the second heat. Starting from 29th place, I got down to business in the first race on Sunday. I made up a few places in the first race and finished 21st. In the second race, again starting from the inside, I gained positions again. I finished the race in 13th place! A great result and the development over the first four races of the DKM was extremely pleasing.

September, 2017

We were two seconds off the lead in Friday practice. A time difference which was extremely frustrating but could only be due to the engine. A defective carburetor was the problem. Nevertheless, I was unable to impress in the qualifying practice on Saturday and had to settle for 24th place. In the following two heats I finished 10th and 16th, which meant starting 11th in Sunday's pre-final. It rained on Sunday morning. During the warm-up I slid off the track and damaged the chassis. The chassis was repaired just in time for the pre-final. On the formation lap, the engine switched off and I then had great difficulty joining the field again. At the last moment I positioned myself in my starting place. Unfortunately, two meters after the positioning line gave me a time penalty of ten seconds! This meant that I had to start from 21st in the final race. The engine stopped again during the warm-up. I lined up at the back of the field and used the moment at the start to gain a few positions from behind. The plan worked out and I was able to make up a few places over the following laps. Although I took a lot of risks and drove at the limit, the calculation worked out and I secured 11th place at the end. A great result for us!