Round 4 of the Kazakhstan Karting Championships
Racing, as in life, is full of surprises, and we certainly had our share of those during round 4 of the KZ2 Championship. Friday morning was one of those moments where you think perhaps staying in bed is as good a plan as any, however, it is after all race weekend and it was time to get to the track. As Alex prepared for the first practice session of the day when high winds came up and there was a sandstorm on the horizon coming in fast. The idea of an engine full of sand wasn't worth thinking about so we closed all doors, covered the equipment and waited for the sand to pass.
The weather over the Central Asian Steppe is wildly unpredictable. No sooner had the sandstorm stopped, the temperature dropped 15 degrees and a deluge of rain flooded the track and we were forced to stay another hour in the pits. At this stage our original though of staying in bed was starting to look like the better plan...
Eventually Alex managed to get a few minutes on a wet and slippery track. Feeling his way around while on dry race tyres, it was a bit of fun on a day that was already of very little data gathering use. Little did we know that the days ups and downs were far from over.
After a few laps in the wet troubles began to haunt Alex, firstly the right side-pod fell off, after that was fixed, the right rear tyre went flat.... then, to round of the afternoon, the gear stick broke... After all this we realized it was time to call it a day, hit the shower and get ready for Saturdays qualifying, a new and better day ahead.. Or so we thought...
After a good nights sleep it was time for qualifying. Sadly, due to a technical issue with the track timing system, it was decided to split the classes over 2 days and KZ2 would defer qualifying and racing to Sunday morning. As the weather was fantastic it was no issue for driver and team to have a day off and spend the day by the track hotel pool.
If we thought Friday was a crazy day, we were in for arguably the wildest day of racing we had ever had. During the early morning warm up, our rear right tyre went flat again due to a hairline crack in the sidewall. The team were fast to swap the bad tyre and Alex was able get a few laps in of dry running, the first time for the entire weekend so far.
Alex decided that the official practice session would be dedicated to practice starts, something he hadn't had the chance to do so far. We were starting to worry that this weekend was slipping away from us slowly, so many issues and nothing going as we hoped and a bad start to the race would really put an end to our championship hopes.
As qualifying started, we held the team back as long as possible in order to give our drivers a clear track. With enough time remaining for 1 clear lap, Alex followed team-mates Sergei and Erzhan onto the track. Setting a personal best time of 1:04.642 Alex amazingly qualified in pole position. Something we never imagined after the events of the previous couple of days.
Alex chose to start from the right hand side of the track for the first race, but as we prepared to move to the pre-grid area we noticed we had a flat front right tyre... "What was going on!!" was the question, "What else is going to go wrong....." A mad dash and an passionate plea to the Chief Steward to grant us a bit of time to sort our the issue was greeted positively as the mechanics set to work. After finding a tear in the tyre wall (again) a quick swap to another tyre had Alex's kart ready on the front row.
Our team-mate Sergie had a great start off the line and it was side by side to the first corner. Alex, deciding not to "send it" deep under brakes, tucked in behind at the turn as the field settled down behind them.
After a few laps of trying to hold off the Sodi Kart behind him, Alex was passed midway through the 15 laps, it was a great battle but against a more experienced driver it was always going to be tough to hold on. After 15 laps Alex had come in 3rd. The time difference was only 2.6 seconds from 1st place which was a big improvement on rounds 1 to 3.
With no further tyre issues, or any issues for that matter, it was time to line up for race 2. Starting from 3rd on the grid we took the decision to change our tyre pressure strategy in order to get a good start and be clear of some good drivers around.
Another good start put Alex into 2nd immediately however it was becoming obvious the Sodi karts had pace and after a couple of laps Alex and Sergie were being caught at a fast rate. Again by mid race, Alexs hold on P2 wasn't to be and he dropped to 3rd. A battle in front of him was taking place and Alexs only hope was to wait for any gift he might be given thanks to the leading pair. Unable to improve his pace Alex had to settle for 3rd on track, this time only 1.7 seconds separated him from the lead. Another great improvement.
The weekend's drama was far from over as there was some protests with the drivers in 1st and 2nd. For a brief moment there was hope of a P1 finish due to technicalities. However, after all was said and done, Alex remained in 3rd. As a driver you always want to win on track and not off the track. We walked away happy with the result and proud of our efforts.
With the final round in September, we look forward to wrapping up what has been an exciting series, many lessons learnt and many new friends made. As always many thanks to our team Parolin Kazakhstan and to our friends who follow us.
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