Mach1 Motorsport was able to travel home from Wackersdorf in a good mood. Among a record field of participants of the German Kart Championship the drivers held their ground on the front positions and highlighted the possibilities of a Mach1-chassis.
The German Kart Championship’s three grade series have never been so filled up before. All in all, 171 drivers started. The shifterkarts were the strongest force: A few weeks before the European Championship in Wackersdorf, numerous top drivers used these races as preparation. Among the 72 participants was Mach1 factory driver John Norris. After his amazing catching-up race in Genk, he was able to impress in Wackersdorf as well. After achieving 19th place at qualifying, he finished his four heats on the fifth, fifth, seventh and eleventh places. That put him on the great twelfth starting position for the first finale. “John has shown a great performance today. We’ve come out of all the four heats without any damages and are really close to the top ten. This is a great result considering the field of participants”, said Martin Hetschel on Saturday evening.
While the sun was shining until Saturday afternoon, only a little later rain and cold temperatures were the dominating factors of the event. John was comfortable with these difficult conditions and was able to improve his performance up to seventh place during the first final race. He then had some bad luck during the second race. Due to a turn during the starting phase of the race he fell back considerably, fought his way back again though and came in 20th. On the Championship list of rankings he is currently on 10th place right before summer break. “I’m very content with today. With this amount of rain, anything can happen on the track. Our chassis worked great under dry as well as wet conditions”, Martin Hetschel commented on the racing events.
Meanwhile, Manuel Valier, Harrison Newey and Julian Müller started at the German Kart Championship with Mach1 Motorsport. Just like in Ampfing, Valier belonged to the title favorites and was on the promising sixth place after the heats. He wasn’t able to keep that close to the leading field during the first final race though. The second race went similarly and he finished on 9th place in the heavy rain this time.
DKM-rookie Harrison Newey is gaining more and more momentum in the new class and already left his mark during the first heat by coming in twelfth. The finals didn’t go without problems then though. After achieving 21st place at the first race he unfortunately had to forfeit the second prematurely. The third driver, Julian Müller, had to deal with a falling out at one of the heats and had to enter the repechage due to this. He finished this on third place and was therefore able to enter the final races. Unfortunately he also had a falling out at the first final race. The second went perfectly then: During the course of the 21 laps, he was able to improve his position to the great 14th place.
“The DKM races were full of ups and downs. Manuel was able to tie in with his great performance in Ampfing and is still very close to the top of the list, currently on fifth place. Harrison and Julian continue to learn a lot. At the finals, both of them have shown great performances among this strong field. Julian’s catching-up race was especially impressive”, Hetschel praised in the evening.
Lucas Speck started with a Mach1-chassis as well. The ADAC Champion of 2012 started at the DKM under the name LS-Kart and was comfortable in the rain. Speck finished both finals on the great third place and was able to improve his position on the overall list of rankings to seventh place.
The team is going to start in Wackersdorf again in two weeks. Then, John Norris is going to start at the second event of the CIK-FIA KZ2 European Championship.
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