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Superkart: First European meeting at Donington

01.06.15
The CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship restarts in 2015 in its classical format, a confrontation based on three Competitions, where only the best five of the six races are counted for the title.

The first Competition is looming at Donington on 6th & 7th June 2015. This is a return to the British circuit that had hosted several events of the discipline until 2004. The field is compact with 23 entered including nine Drivers from the United Kingdom who will have the advantage of competing on their soil. The Championship will then continue at Le Mans (4th & 5th July) and Assen (1st & 2nd August).

Uniquely for the Competition at Donington, the British Superkart GP Race is running simultaneously.

While a rematch of 2014 seems likely, three drivers are among the favourites after the first Competitions of the early season.

Firstly, the defending Champion, the Frenchman Emmanuel Vinuales (Anderson / VM), a three time European title winner to date, will race at the opening of the Championship without having run in the off season like he did successfully in 2014. He will, however, face additional uncertainty regarding the new VM engine which he has not yet tested.

His main opponent of last year, the Czech Adam Kout (MSKart / DEA) will arrive already well sharpened after his first victories of 2015 in France and Germany. Unlike the French Driver, the DEA engine has this time been tuned by the factory.

The third protagonist, capable of thwarting the plans of the first two mentioned, is the European Champion of 2008, the German Peter Elkmann (MSkart / VM). He has thoroughly tested since the beginning of the year with his hardware configurations and regularly stars alongside the Czech driver. He has also won in the two countries.

Although the number of drivers is down, the standard is excellent and very even. Foremost among the serious contenders, there is the Briton Gavin Bennett, a triple European champion, always motivated and able to make the most of his equipment, provided that he can finish all the races. In his last season in Superkarts, Bennett will probably show that he remains a benchmark.

We will also watch the 2014 revelation, the German Andreas Jost (Anderson / VM) who is making progress and regularly among the front runners. The Redspeed Team is running two drivers: firstly the Finn Vesa Lehtinen, powered by DEA, who has returned to the podium this year, and secondly the Dutchman Marcel Maasmann, the Vice Champion in 2012, probably the fastest of the Drivers equipped with FPE engines. The Dane Henrik Lilja, very often on the podium, enjoys all the attention of Poul V. Petersen.