Last Updated on 24 March, 2024 by gokartprix
The last outdoor race of the season took place in Uppsala at Rörken Ring. This time they didn’t have transponders, so we used our new format that debuted this year in stage 1 – with 3 qualification heat races and a final. 11 participants showed up, so we were divided into 2 groups. Heat 1 showed that gokarts’ performance “a bit” differed one from another. Andreas lost 3 positions and finished 5th while Anatoly won the heat. Mattias won group 2 followed by Berke. Heat 2 went to Igor’s S pocket. Behind him was a nice battle between Mattias, Igor K and Kristoffer. Group 2 was dominated by Anatoly who took 2nd heat victory and Fredrik took 2nd runner-up place. The last Heat was in Berke’s favor who was faster than Andreas, Mattias, Igor S and Fredrik. In the second group Kristoffer took his first heat win followed by Anatoly who ended up to be the best after all Qualification Heat Races and earned his first TQ of the season and 10th in his career. Berke, Mattias, Kristoffer and Igor S qualified to Final A. The rest of the field including Fredrik and Andreas ended up in Final B with only one more ticket on the table to fight for.
It was clear that in the finals luck will play a big role in success. 4 of 6 Qualification Heat Races were dominated by the same gokart. Everyone wanted to have it, but only a few could afford it. In Final B it went to Fredrik who started from P1. He was probably very upset because he didn’t even get any chance to fight since he was always in the front. But behind him Igor K was trying to hold off Andreas who was very confused racing in Final B. On P3. He became 2nd very soon, but Fredrik was unreachable in his rocket and he got promoted to Final A. Championship rookie Nicky had a nice racing battle with Cristian in the back of the pack and eventually finished ahead of his rival.
In the last and main heat of the race the best car was awarded to Igor S. He started from P5 and all he had to do was not to screw this up. Anatoly took off from pole position and was already defending from Mattias’ attacks. Unfortunately for the Latvian his gokart didn’t have enough power to hold the Swede, so Mattias took the lead. Not for long though since Igor S was already there breathing at his neck. Meanwhile Fredrik found himself a strong competitor Berke who didn’t want to give up his 4th place. But he did it eventually . At the same time Anatoly’s struggles continued. He let both Fredrik and Berke through and was fighting with Kristoffer who was last at that moment.
Despite Igor’s S advantage, Mattias didn’t let him get away that easily and was hoping for the leader’s mistake. But he had to move his focus behind him as there was Fredrik. They’re fighting for a vice-champion status this year, so this battle was fundamental for them. Fredrik moved to P2 and was there for a couple of laps. Then Mattias went back up. Then Fredrik took P2 again. Then… Berke stopped! Engine failure. Such a disappointing outcome. Meanwhile Anatoly and Kristoffer are still fighting for not being the last. However, they both overtake… Mattias! He’s very slow! He’s throwing up his hands and parks his gokart at the track’s edge. He’s out! On the next lap after Berke! 2 DNFs again in Uppsala! Wow! What a drama! Only 4 gokarts left on the track. Igor S crosses the finish line 1st. Then Fredrik. Then Kristoffer. Then Anatoly.
The results of this stage bring us only to one possible conclusion – every time Andreas isn’t racing in Final A, Igor S wins! 🙂 That was Igor’s 6th victory in career and he became the only driver who won at Rörken Ring twice in the 8 years we have been racing there. Andreas took only 14 points from Uppsala, but he is still feeling confident about his chances for another title. In the next race in Nyköping he needs to gain just 20 more points in order to get the trophy (with a condition that he doesn’t receive a yellow card). Fredrik outscored Mattias this time and raised his chances for a runner-up’s trophy. Igor’s victory put him a bit closer to top 3 but he’s still quite far. But he still might get P4 from Tomas. Wait…, we just received shocking news that Tomas will not be participating in the last 2 races either. That means that Berke might pretty much get him for P5.
Big thanks to our participants and to the track staff that helped us with organizing the event! Race documentation is here.
See you in Nyköping!