2019

2019 ADAC Masters

Ampfing, Germany

April 27 - 28, 2019

Full of motivation, but unsure whether the adapted rib protection would keep its promises, we traveled to Ampfing for the ADAC Kart Masters. The Friday practices showed that the ribs were no longer bothering me and by lunchtime I was able to keep up well in the dry! In the afternoon, I stepped it up a notch and the fifth practice session was held in pouring rain. With some skepticism, the kart was rebuilt and to our great satisfaction I was among the three fastest. This was despite the fact that I hadn't driven in the wet for a long time. The Friday training sessions were therefore positive throughout and the motivation for the races was back. I finished ninth in the qualifying practice. However, I was relegated to 14th place due to a penalty. I finished eighth twice in the heats. This put me in a good seventh place on the grid for Sunday. I finished tenth in the pre-final and ninth in the final. So a top result and best Swiss! I was extremely happy about this result. Not only because of the top position, but even more because my ribs cooperated. We were also the only one with a Vortex motor in the top ten. It was still possible to improve in various areas: race practice, refining the chassis setup as well as working on the engines to get tenths of power out of them.

2019 Rotax Max Schweiz

Bopfingen, Switzerland

May 12, 2019

Thursday evening we went to the Rotax Max Challenge Switzerland in Bopfingen for the opening race of the 2019 season. I traveled to this event with great respect because I hadn't competed in the Rotax Championship for two years. I therefore had no experience with the engines or the tires. On Friday it was already clear that I was getting on well with the material and my mechanic was able to steadily improve the set-up from one training session to the next. There was rain in one training session and things went really well there too. On Saturday's practice session, the other drivers really caught up and our lead in practice narrowed. The best conditions for an exciting starting position for the race on Sunday. I won the qualifying practice with a lead of 0.3 seconds. I clearly won both heats from pole position and was unstoppable in the final race. There, too, I crossed the finish line in first place.

Simply superb and maximum points! After a long dry spell, I’m back on the podium, even though the 2019 season didn't get off to an ideal start.

2019 Rotax Max Schweiz

Wohlen, Switzerland

June 10, 2019

Although we had already unofficially broken the Rotax Max lap record in free practice on Saturday, our competitors were catching up fast. First things first: On Wednesday, a week earlier, I was informed that Ralf Schumacher would be making his newly developed chassis available to me. I took the risk of changing our material shortly and achieved good results on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, things got really fast and we found the optimum setting for the new chassis. But the competition didn't sleep. We won the qualifying practice on Monday and officially broke the lap record! We changed the chassis for the first heat, which turned out to be less than ideal. I had to give up the lead! In the second race, starting in second place, I lost two places again at the start. From the second half of the race I really stepped on the gas, setting the best lap time, and was able to fight my way back to the front. I finished in P2 again. I was unstoppable in the final run. I wished for rain, which promptly set in. Although I hit the wall in the middle of the final race and bent the axle, I crossed the finish line in first place. The result was of course good and the lead in the championship was extended, but we still had room for improvement with the RS chassis.

2019 DKM

Kerpen, Germany

July 12 - 14, 2019

Just before the summer holidays the DKM race in Kerpen took place. For the preparation and getting used to the VEGA tyres (Rotax drives MOJOS), we did a test day in Genk. In Kerpen I raced with the RS Team. The first heat was good but in the second heat I lost positions when I left the track into the grass. Nevertheless, I entered the finals! I crossed the finishing line on the 15th position. A very good result considering the switch between Rotax and OK.

2019 Rotax Max Schweiz

Vesoul, France & Pavia, Italy

July 7 & August 11, 2019

In both Rotax races, things did not continue in the usual way. Already in Vesoul for the third race of the Swiss Rotax Championship, things were going badly. The preparation test went very well but on the race weekend we couldn't find the "pace". Although we finished the final race in third place with the fastest lap, we were still not sure what the problem was. Around three weeks later, we went to Pavia for the fourth round of the Rotax Swiss Championship. This was my favorite track. I was holding the junior lap record on this track! The omens were good, but things turned out quite differently. We were very fast in the qualifying practice until I caught up with a guest driver ahead of me and had to give up the fastest lap. Although I was able to start from the front row in both heats, we lost too many meters to the driver in front of me. Our engine didn't get up to speed! In the final race, I was involved in a racing accident at the start, which dropped me back to fifth place. The unsatisfactory results in Vesoul and Pavia were a complete frustration and a lesson.

2019 Rotax Max Schweiz

Mirecourt, France

September 1, 2019

The homework was done. The preparations for this race were enormous. We were anything but satisfied at the two previous races and this gave us motivation to hit the ground running in Mirecourt. The focus was on the engines and carburetors and it paid off. The qualifying practice I won by 5/100 of a second. However, it was even closer in the two heats. I crossed the finish line with a lead of just 1/100 of a second in both heats. First in the first heat and second in the second one. In the second heat, I overtook the opponent in front of me in the second last high-speed. There was no stopping in the final race. Lap record! For comparison: last year, I was 0.8 seconds faster in the much stronger OK Senior class at the Swiss Championship in Mirecourt. My mechanic was unstoppable the whole weekend to optimize the chassis and he managed to adjust the kart so optimally that I could do the lap record. I was able to extend my lead in the Swiss championship as the winner and with the maximum number of points for the weekend. So we are back on course!

2019 Rotax Max World Finals

Sarno, Italy

October 19 - 26, 2019

Winning the Swiss Championship means the possibility to take part at the Rotax Max World Final 2019. To drive against the Champions of other countries with equal material is a big opportunity to show your own skills. I ended the qualifying practice on 27th position of 72 drivers. We struggled a lot with the provided engine since the start of the event.  After the heats I was ranked 21st. I started the pre-final on 11th and was able to push to the 4th place after the start. But with engine problem and losing to much on the straights I was not able to keep up and finished 10th. This gave me the 20th starting position for the final. Over the night the event organization prepared my engine and changed various parts because of the missing engine power. On the final day I already felt a problem with the engine in the warm-up lap. After the start I realized that the engine did not perform. After a half of a lap I already went from 20th to 36th place. I tried to find the problem during the race but unfortunately I was not able and I boxed after 2 laps. A really disappointing result after hoping to do better then in the World Final 2016 which ended in the 13th place.