Last Updated on 24 March, 2024 by gokartprix
We were so happy to find out that mother nature prepared a nice surprise for us and dropped a lot of snow for our race. That way we could finally make a proper Winter Cup! 12 participants gathered for this event including 5 Championship rookies. It was also a debut for a new racing setup HHR – with Practice, 2 Qualifications Heat Races and one Final Race. And people definitely needed practice since there was no grip at all, no traction and no clear understanding of how to handle a gokart equipped with rain tires on the snow.
In the first Qualification Heat Race everybody was struggling with the handling. Smarter ones decided to drive slower but without spins. Top 3 was already set by lap 1. Pontus, Mika and Igor were able to find that one line and speed to cover most of the corners without problems. Mattias was trying not to get far behind them. Championship rookie Polymeris showed decent speed and skills, but his gokart experienced trouble with a gas pedal, so the driver had to finish the heat earlier. Pontus crossed the finish line first. The second Heat just confirmed the most results of the first one. The same people in top 4, but with a different winner – this time it was Mika. On the fixed gokart Polymeris managed to finish 5th.
After 2 Heats many spots on the track that were covered in snow became ice. Due to this factor Igor couldn’t be as productive as in Qualification Heats so he lost a couple of positions after several spins. It was a long race where anything could happen. Mika and Pontus had a really nice snow/ice fight for the victory until the moment when Pontus’ gokart failed and broke down forcing it’s driver to retire. Mika left alone in the front and just had to bring his gokart home. Mattias was driving conservative and climbed up to 2nd place after Igor’s spin and Pontus’ DNF. Last year’s Birthday Race winner was followed by Sergej, another Championship rookie. He was very careful in every turn without taking any risk. And that strategy paid off – he finished on the podium!
But there were also some participants who had the same bad luck as Pontus. Martin had to go to the pits for a repair that made him lose 2 laps. And Polymeris had to park his gokart before the finish line. Again. Meanwhile in the front everything was fine with Mika who crossed the line first with a quite large margin. This is the first victory for Mika in GoKart PRIX! Mattias finished 2nd just like he did last year. The rest of the field got a bit confused with their outcome and the race conditions in general. But that’s why the GoKart PRIX Winter Cup is so special! 🙂
After the first race of the year we ended up with participants from 8 different countries in the top-10 standings! This is the most diverse outcome to date! Mika is leading the pack. But everything might change already in Stockholm. We thank all participants and also Järfälla Kartbana staff for support! Race documentation is located here.