Last Updated on 24 March, 2024 by gokartprix
It was a nice warm summer day in Upplands Väsby. 13 drivers gathered together to race at ÖS-WE Ring. There were some newcomers that showed up as well as long time no see faces. Last time we had 3 champions on the grid was in August 2020. One of them – Niklas – this time showed the fastest lap time in Qualification. Slawomir was the 2nd fastest, followed by Karlis and Igor. Andreas was 6th and Mattias only 10th.
At the start of the Semi-Final Slawomir took the lead from Niklas. Karlis and Igor were fighting for the 3rd place. Fredrik, Andreas, Berke and Mika were aiming for the 5th. Niklas quite quickly got back his lead and Fredrik was searching the way to overtake Karlis and Igor. He got Igor first and went for the right side of Karlis who was covering the inside line. Suddenly Igor went 3-wide and made contact with Fredrik who went into Karlis who was unlucky in this situation and spun. Igor got blamed for this incident and got penalized. That way both Latvians who started from row 2 and had a nice chance for a good result lost a lot of positions.
Mattias, who had a bad qualification, was breaking through the field. Berke was defending his 4th place from Andreas, but eventually lost it not only to Andreas, but also to Pontus, Mattias and later to Mika. Pontus was fast and made a press on Andreas, but it didn’t work out as he planned, because Mattias overtook him. Pontus tried to return his position, but Mattias didn’t let him do that until the end of the session. In the front Niklas had his perfect pace and won the race. Slawomir couldn’t reach him but also didn’t let Fredrik get closer. They finished in that order. Behind them finished Andreas, Mattias, Pontus and Mika. Karlis was fast but not fast enough to get to Mio who finished behind Berke. Igor, Björn and Erik closed the finish protocol. But everybody still had a chance in the Final.
This time Niklas launched better than Slawomir and led the peloton already by the first hairpin. Andreas made a nice turn that almost placed him on P2, but Mattias and Mika had other plans for that. So Andreas not only didn’t gain some places but also dropped to P7 by turn 5! At that moment Fredrik made a crucial move on Slawek for the 2nd outbreaking him in the second hairpin. Andreas most likely had some troubles with his gokart as he even let Berke through and was now defending from Igor. But Karlis wanted to get several positions at once and he optimistically dove into the sharp left turn, blocked the tires and kicked Igor out. Two Latvians met again. Because of that incident Mio also got stucked. But it helped Björn and Erik who were able to gain 3 spots each. Not for long though. By the end of the race they got passed back and returned to the tail.
In the front Niklas was doing what he does best on this track – was leading and gaining the time margin to P2 that was occupied by Fredrik. Behind him was a nice 3-way battle between Slawomir, Mattias and Mika. Swede took P3, but at the next corner not only lost it back to the Polish driver, but also was pressed by the Finn. Eventually Mika took P4 from Mattias, but the next lap suddenly lost it all and dropped to P7 behind Berke. But Berke couldn’t hold him for long. However, during the last few laps Turk was bravely defending from Andreas’s attacks. Ahead of them Mika was leaning on Pontus and eventually passed him. Further to the front Mattias was on Slawomir’s tail who blocked any attack attempts from the Swede. Only Fredrik and Niklas didn’t feel the pressure and finished the race in the first 2 positions. Slawek held his 3rd place. Mattias just missed the podium and was followed by Mika and Pontus. Berke was very happy to finish 7th and not to let Andreas through. It has been a disaster weekend for Karlis and Igor who were divided by Mio on the finish line. Björn couldn’t show his potential that day and a newcomer Erik finished 13th.
Niklas won for the 4th time at ÖS-WE Ring and this achievement is the only one so far in GoKart PRIX when a driver has more than 3 victories at the same track. Congrats to the winner and other podium takers! Big thanks to all participants and special thanks to ÖS-WE Ring staff!
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