Photo: Pascal Verheuge
Kevin Lantinga and Louis Baziret are this year’s X30 Senior and Junior champoionships in IAME Series Benelux.
After rounds at Mariembourg, Ostricourt and Genk, the season concluded with a return to Mariembourg on October 3/4.
In X30 Snr, it was super close in all three qualifying groups with first place decided on average by a margin of 0.022 seconds. Lantinga was seventh in group one, only 0.17s off poleman Yanis Bouillez, while title rival Sem van der Heijden was second in group two, 0.012s behind Henkie Kalteren, and Gabriel Stilp pipped Mattiz Meerschaut by 0.008s in group three.
Meerschaut converted pole into victory in three heats, and Bouillez only won once but coming second three times put him second in the intermediate classification (which set the main final’s grid) after the heats. Victor Louis’ consistent top-six finishes put him fourth overall.
Van der Heijden won the opening heat but two disastrous races left him 27th in that classification, with fellow title contender Otto Pyykonen 30th after starting outside of the top 10 for all heats. Despite missing qualifying, Clement Outran made the top five in three heats.
Stilp had two wins, two second places and then a retirement that left him eigth, with Lantinga also winning twice to sit sixth in the intermediate classification.
The cutoff to make the main final was 36th, so Thibaut Ramaekers just missed out despite starting off with a win and a second place.
Lantinga went into the final leading van der Heijden by seven points, and faced sunny conditions but a wet track. Some drivers went for wet tyres, while others used slicks.
The top three were split by 4.285s after one lap, with a mix of full attack and edging around the track. Daan Steenman led by four seconds after two laps, and Lantinga was fifth by lap four but 13s behind. Outran crashed out on that lap after getting to ninth, then a lap later Steenman parked up off-track but rejoined.
Now a second split the top three, with slick-shod Stilp leading Louis. It took a lap to build a 5.847s gap to Delano Wellens in third, and Lantinga passed him on lap seven as Steenman and Pyykonen fought over ninth. Van der Heijden meanwhile was outside of the top 20.
Wellens plummeted down the order as the track dried, and there was more drama to come. Stilp was eight seconds clear when he struck trouble on lap 13 of 15 and conceded the lead to Louis, and Lantinga then lost third to Bouillez.
They had more action on the last lap, with Bouillez falling to 10th and Oscar Goudchaux stealing third from Lantinga. Once post-race penalties were applied, Lantinga was on the podium and confirmed as champion, as van der Heijden was classified 12th.
Victory Lane’s Baziret missed the X30 Jr season finale but was still crowned champion by a big margin.
Lucas Bonhomme won three heats, Antoine Duval won two and Flavio Caira won one at Mariembourg.
Baziret’s team-mate and the 2024 champion Juste Mulder and Stig De Raedemaeker got between the front row pair on lap one of the soaking wet final, with Mulder losing second on lap two then making a double move for the lead on lap three.
Mulder held on at the front, although came under late pressure from Caira, who had a mid-race battle with De Raedemaeker. Far behind, Bonhomme just held off Duval for fourth.
Aron Weeda, Baziret’s main title rival, was 15th in his qualifying group, came third, eighth and 24th in his heats (by which point the title was settled) then rose from 24th to 14th in the final.
Results round-up
X30 Senior final (15 laps)
1 Victor Louis RSD Karting [Kosmic] 15m40.462s
2 Gabriel Stilp Croc Promotion [Croc Promotion] +0.705s
3 Kevin Lantinga Croc Promotion [Croc Promotion] +12.803s
4 Daan Steenman KCR-Racing [Croc Promotion] +15.183s
5 Oscar Goudchaux Dream Racing [Kosmic] +16.758s
6 Clement Massaux Ravet Racing [TB Kart] +17.865s
7 Otto Pyykonen Croc Promotion [Croc Promotion] +20.374s
8 Mattiz Meerschaut RSD Karting [Kosmic] +25.711s
9 Yanis Bouillez PJM [CS55] +28.269s
10 Luca Leistra MCK Racing [Tony Kart] +30.672s
Fastest lap: Leistra, 56.511s
Championship standings
1 Lantinga 580 2 Sem van der Heijden 572 3 Louis 563 4 Meerschaut 555 5 Pyykonen 555 6 Matthias Vandekerckhove 553 7 Clement Outran 545 8 Bouillez 539 9 Leistra 533 10 Goudchaux 527
X30 Junior final
1 Juste Mulder Victory Lane [Kart Republic] 16m07.970s
2 Flavio Caira VDK Racing [Kart Republic] +0.346s
3 Stig De Raedemaeker Fusion Motorsport [Kosmic] +1.272s
4 Lucas Bonhomme Dream Racing [Kosmic] +9.006s
5 Antoine Duval Eurokarting [Kosmic] +9.255s
6 Bink van Scheijndel Falcon [Falcon] +9.911s
7 Jan Rodrigues VDK Racing [Kart Republic] +12.665s
8 Maurice Vercruysse MCK Racing [Tony Kart] +16.840s
9 Edouard Godfroid RSD Karting [Exprit but I don’t think it is] +17.064s OTK Kosmic i think
10 Temmo Koopmans TD Kart [TD Kart] +17.861s
FL: Caira, 1m13.428s
Championship standings
1 Louis Baziret 621 2 Aron Weeda 579 3 De Raedemaeker 575 4 Didier Kreeft 571 5 Caira 564 6 Duval 562 7 Noah Grignet 532 8 Aurelio Gustinelli 516 9 Dani Boers 513 10 Henry Carter 506