- Hot weather at Sarno !
Perfectly professional, Jonathan Thonon has fought like a lion to grab his place on the podium despite unfavourable conditions.
The final of the 4th round of WSK has been no bed of roses, but thanks to his experience has offered his CRG team an excellent result in KZ2. And the Belgian driver has moved forward from the 9th to the 2nd place of the provisional championship.
The newly-crowned European Champion was happy to be back on the circuit of Sarno, where he had won the World Cup in 2007. The Belgian pilot managed to conquer victory once more, but Jonathan’s circuit was scattered with little mishaps which prevented him from racing to the best of his ability during the weekend of 20 July.
"The timed session had started off with a time which was not as good as I expected, but a minor technical problem forced me to settle for the 10th time, commented Jonathan. With my team, the problem was solved quickly and I became competitive again in the first qualifying session, where I recovered up to the third position. In the two following heats, I set the best lap and won the last one".
Squeezed in between his two CRG-Maxter team mates, Alessandro Manetti and Arnaud Kozlinski, Thonon was back in the front line of the pre-final starting grid. A tight race followed with the other specialists of the categories, that Jonathan is going to meet again in the next World Cup.
"There were quite a few of us racing within the same tenth and the odds had been uncertain for a long time. Finally, I was the third to cross the finish line. However, I was still convinced that I could improve this result in the final. We discussed in depth with the team and with my motor engine mechanic, in order to define the best setup".
From the start, Thonon felt that with his material he could aim much higher. He overtook Manetti to get to the second place and started chasing down the leader. But soon, he lost control of his kart while braking. Jonathan explained.
"There was a piece of rubber jammed in the brake callipers and I lost some places by driving on the outside edge of a bend . Later, I had to play with the braking system and the engine brake to slow down. I could no longer attack normally. Gradually, the problem improved and I could set things straight again".
The CRG driver, now on the loose, got the better of Fore, then of Manetti. In the heat of the region of Naples, in Italy, Thonon set the best lap of the race and attacked the leader. But he had almost caught up with him when Ardigo crossed the finish, and Thonon ended up second. The Belgian driver, winner of WSK in 2007, knows that he is not going to keep his title, but the important points scored in Sarno push him up to the second position.
"The event of early October in Spain, in Zuera, is going to be decisive and I intend to end on a high note. In the meantime, many practice sessions are planned before the KZ1 World Cup and the KF1 World Championship.
However, I’ll try to take a few days off in-between". But it is certainly with the determination to win that the CRG-Maxter driver is going to face these two major events of the season...
- KARTcom -
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