The drivers in the first group for qualifying in the U18 World Championship wondered about tire choice: rain fell in the night and on Saturday morning at the Circuit de Braga, should they try slicks? In retrospect, the answer is yes, without hesitation. Under these conditions of a drying track, the times were dropping on every lap the fastest would be in the final seconds of the session. Juho Valtanen (PCR) and Sam Webster (ART GP) didn’t make a mistake, the Finn setting the pole time of his group with 57” 153, while the French driver Jules Gounon (Sodi) accelerated in the final laps and finished 5/100 off with the third fastest time.
The track was much more grippy for the second group. Henry Easthope (Sodi) was unbeaten which offered him the pole position of his group and overall with 56” 179,” 0.163s ahead of the Dane Martin Mortensen (Formula K), Australian Joseph Mawson (Top Kart) and Brazilian Thiago Vivacqua (Zanardi).
The third group does not reach Easthope’s level. Fastest was the Finn Ville Mäntylä (Energy) who recorded 56” 552 ahead of Italy’s Marco Maestranzi (PCR), Spanish German Villanueva (Formula K), the German Luka Kamali (Zanardi) and the Dutch Joel Affolter (Intrepid). Charles Leclerc (ART GP) came out of parc ferme very disappointed with the set-up of his chassis, his 17th time placed him in around 50th place.
The 101% applied and the positions were alternated from each group: Easthope leads ahead of Mäntylä and Valtanen, Mortensen fourth, Maestranzi fifth, Webster 6th, … etc..
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / © Photo KSP