The fine weather finally held out throughout Sunday at Val d’Argenton and the OK Final of the European Championship was looking good. 24 laps were scheduled under sunny skies.
Joe Turney (KR/Iame) had David Walther (OTK/Vortex) in his wake when the lights went out, but Fionn Mclaughlin (KR/Iame) was back in 2nd. Zac Drummond (Parolin/TM) and David Cosma Cristofor (KR/Iame) failed to finish the first lap. Lewis Wherrell (Exprit/TM) was 2nd on lap 2, ahead of Matheus Morgatto (Birel ART/TM) and Gabriel Gomez (CRG/Iame). Walther was 5th, followed by Salim Hanna (KR/Iame), Mclaughlin and Andy Consani (Sodi/TM) in 8th. Davide Bottaro (CRG/Iame) and Thibaut Ramaekers (KR/Iame) retired. The battle for victory was between Turney and Wherrell, separated by less than 3 tenths, with Morgatto 8 tenths back, followed by Gomez. Louis Iglesias (CRG/Iame) was back in the top 10, while Tom Dussol (CRG/Iame) had moved up 17 places to 19th. The halfway point confirmed this situation. McLaughlin overtook Walther for 6th place behind Hanna. Turney then maintained his advantage of around 4.5 tenths over Wherell, while Morgatto closed slightly under the growing threat from Gomez. The Italian-licensed Brazilian moved up to 3rd with four laps to go, but fell back to within a second of 2nd-placed Wherrell. Turney upped the pace going into the last lap and took an important victory 0.554″ ahead of Wherrell. Gomez crossed the line in 3rd place at 1.3″, but was then penalised 4th (overtaking under yellow flag) and Morgatto took 3rd place. 5th place for Walther, Consani was a solid 6th ahead of Aaron Garcia (KR/Iame) and Louis Iglesias (CRG/Iame) 8th, making two Frenchmen in the top 10. Dussol finished 14th after climbing 22 places.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP – Arthur Saulnier-Bruneau