For the first of these two days of racing in Belgium, the KF1 World Championship offered the numerous spectators a fair amount of spectacle and developments. As from the qualifying practices the championship leader Nyck De Vries (Zanardi-Parilla) was betrayed by a faulty engine and was unable to complete a single lap. The Italian Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart-Vortex) couldn’t ask for more and clinched the pole position ahead of the Polish driver Karol Basz (RK-BMB), the Brit Alex Albon (Intrepid-TM), the Frenchman Léo Roussel (Sodi-Parilla) and the Czech Tereza Gromanova (Kosmic-Vortex).
It appeared as though it was going to be a pretty animated debate…and so it was! Even before having even approached the first bend of this first Race, several drivers left all their ambitions of a podium place behind them; namely Karol Basz, Tereza Gromanova and Léo Roussel. Flavio Camponeschi took full advantage to escape … for good! «When I looked back after the first lap I noticed that there was nobody behind me », the smiling Italian commented as he left the podium. Behind him it took three laps for the Brit Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG-Maxter) to overtake Sébastien Bailly (Kosmic-Vortex), who had set off well from 11th place, and extract himself from the rest of the pack. Finally the Belgian had to give way to the attacks emanating from Alex Albon and … Nyck De Vries, who performed brilliantly coming up through the pack from the last spot on the grid.
In the middle of the pack, spirits were heated by the sun and the heat in Genk. The Italian Ignazio D’Agosto (Tony Kart-Vortex), second in the championship, gave up as the result of an incident as also the Czech Libor Toman (Birel-BMB) and Karol Basz, who nonetheless had climbed back up into 7th place following his mishaps in the first lap. The top-10 was finally completed by Léo Roussel, following a great climb back after the jostle at the start, the Japanese Yu Kanamaru (Tony Kart-Vortex), Sébastien Bailly, the Italian Felice Tiene (CRG-Maxter), the Frenchman Loïc Réguillon (Sodi-Parilla) and the Finn Mikko Pakari (Maranello-Maranello).
Following this rather hectic first Race, the second also kicked off with an accident at the start. Definitely cursed during this first day, Ignazio D’Agosto was once again forced to retire, as did his team mate Yu Kanamaru. Up front, Flavio Camponeschi built up his lead ahead of the two Brits Alex Albon and Jordon Lennox-Lamb. Fourth at the end of the first lap, Nyck de Vries swiftly grabbed second place and headed off in pursuit of the leader. Lap after lap the Dutchman managed to glean a few tenths to fill the gap one lap from the finish. Fighting it out for first place the two drivers nudged each other on the straight, with the Italian finishing his race off track whilst De Vries took the chequered flag as overall victor. But having analysed the various fitted cameras the Stewards of the Meeting decided to exclude the Dutchman… a decision which nonetheless Nyck De Vries’ entrant has appealed against! Therefore the championship leader provisionally retains his victory points. Already second in the first Race, Jordon Lennox-Lamb once again scored heavy points by finishing ahead of his team mate Felice Tiene, the latter getting the better of Alex Albon just after the half-way mark. Loïc Réguillon completed the top-5 ahead of Sébastien Bailly, Léo Roussel, the Belgian Dylan Lahaye (Maranello-Maranello), the Brit Chris Lock (Tony Kart-Vortex) and Tereza Gromanova.
Info CIK / © Photo KSP