Photo: The RaceBox
The IAME Euro Series season reached its halfway point last weekend, and Harrison Mackie leads the X30 Senior standings.
Round one took place at Italian track Cremona, and it was very close in qualifying as pole in each group was decided by less than 0.1 seconds.
Mackie, Riccardo Ferrari and Danny Carenini won the first three heats, and in the fourth Clement Outran was victorious as Markus Glume climbed 17 spots to third.
Kevin Lantinga dominated the next heat, despite starting ninth, then on a drying track Andy Ratel won by 8.374s. The wettest conditions led to fewer overtaking, with Carenini and Outran winning the following heats.
As the track began drying again, Ratel romped to a 12s win then Mackie picked up another first place finish as Lantinga edged Carenini to second by 0.07s.
In the final damp heat, Ruben Moya and Cian Geraghty came from 23rd and 15th to finish six seconds apart at the front after Matthias Vandekerckhove got a bumper penalty that demoted him from second to seventh.
Moya was 14th after two laps, sixth by lap five and third a lap later. When the top two’s battling went awry, Moya was first to profit.
Outran won the next heat, Ferrari pipped Gus Lawrence by 0.044s for his second victory then Andrea Barbieri and Carenini claimed the final two.
The rain returned for superheat one, won by Carenini, and Lantinga was at the front through superheat two. Zac Green forced Moya off to take second, before a penalty swapped their places.
It was a very wet final, and Carenini led from pole as Vandekerckhove jumped from fifth to second. He overtook Carenini at turn two on lap six, and a lap later Boya and Lantinga followed through.
Lantinga hit a kerb on lap 12 and that brought Ratel onto his tail. Ratel pulled off an incredible move, before hunting down the top two.
Moya was all over Vandekerckhove late on, but on the penultimate lap ran deep at turn eight into a muddy puddle. Lantinga went around the outside of Ratel at the race’s final corner to take second by 0.038s, as a bumper penalty demoted Moya to sixth.
Aaron Garcia and Mackie each won two heats in round two at Zuera, with Sem van der Heijden and Otto Pyykonen taking the other two. Garcia comfortably led home Roxanne Lantinga in superheat one, and in superheat two Vandekerckhove looked behind at the finish just as Pyykonen drew alongside. He won by less than 0.001s.
Garcia, Pyykonen and Mackie pulled away at the start of the final, and traded places until Hugo Jalade joined in and squabbled with Garcia. He then cycled back to the front as Roxanne Lantinga made it a six-kart fight, and the lead kept changing hands until Garcia started defending on lap 11.
Eloi Gonzalez Moreno tried breaking Garcia’s defences with a lunging move that earned himself a penalty, so Mackie then led.
Jalade went off soon too, and on the last lap Garcia tried going around Pyykonen’s outside. Despite hitting the grass, Pyykonen retained his speed and finished third behind Garcia, with Carenini climbing 11 spots to fourth.
Results round-up
Cremona
Final (17 laps)
1 Matthias Vandekerckhove Victory Lane [KR] 18m42.024s
2 Kevin Lantinga Croc Promotion [Croc Promotion] +4.121s
3 Andy Ratel Pantano [Pantano] +4.159s
4 Zac Green Jamie Green Racing [KR] +6.055s
5 Cristian Biasatti TBKart [TBKart] +7.618s
6 Ruben Moya Pantano [Pantano] +7.790s
7 Clement Outran Dream Racing [Kosmic] +9.079s
8 Danny Carenini Zanchi Motorsport [Tony Kart] +12.071s
9 Andrea Barbieri Zanchi Motorsport [Tony Kart] +14.143s
10 Cian Geraghty Geraghty Motorsport [Tony Kart]
Fastest lap: Ratel, 1m05.515s
Zuera
Final (16 laps)
1 Harrison Mackie Fusion Motorsport [KR] 17m03.145s
2 Aaron Garcia MDC Racing [KR] +0.333s
3 Otto Pyyykonen Croc Promotion [Croc Promotion] +0.569s
4 Carenini +0.850s
5 Aleix Pinera RC2 Racing Team [Gillard] +0.857s
6 Bertram Sachse Falcon [Falcon] +1.726s
7 Roxanne Lantinga Lantinga Racing [OTK] +1.859s
8 Marius Barry-Berg Barry-Berg Racing [KR] +2.011s
9 Sam Woolley Team BMR [KR] +2.436s
10 K Lantinga +2.810s
FL: Green, 1m03.073s
Championship standings
1 Mackie 133 2 Carenini 108 3 Garcia 94 4 K Lantinga 93 5 Vandekerckhove 85 6 Pyykonen 74 7 Outran 66 8 Ratel 57 9 R Lantinga 54 10 Green 50