Hannes Janker wins OK European Championship
Last weekend saw the final round of the European Championship played out at Essay, France. Here the 2018 FIA European Karting Champion would be crowned. Going into the event there was a clear favourite. German Hannes Janker held a 17 point advantage over Spain’s Pedro Hiltbrand. With 35 points on offer over the weekend, that could all still change. Behind them were 3 drivers seperated by just 2 points looking for the final podium spot. Juho Valeanen, David Vidales Ajenjo & Roman Stanek had been close all season, and things surely werent over between them.
First blood would go the way of Junior World Champion Dexter Patterson. He set a blistering pace, 4 tenths clear of the rest of his group. Harry Thompson looked to threaten him, but ended 0.171s behind the Scotsman. Kas Haverkort made a decent effort in group 2 to bag 3rd overall. Lorenzo Travisanutto would be 4th with Patterson’s old rival Jonny Edgar in 3rd. It would be a bad day for the top 3 in the championships as Janker would qualify 14th, Hiltbrand in 35th with Valtanen in 30th.
As the heats played out it was clear who the driver on form was. Patterson continued his perfect weekend with 4 heat wins out of 4 on Saturday, a feat that was matched by Thompson to leave them tied on points at the end of the 1st day. Zane Maloney had managed to find his way into the top 3, with Callum Bradshaw sitting 4th. Edgar held onto his qualifying position at the end of day 1, while Travisanutto had fell out of the top 10. Janker hadn’t made any ground up, nor had Hiltbrand, who was in danger of not qualifying for the final. This would hand Janker the title on a plate.
In their final heat, Thompson would take fastest lap, but Patterson would take the win, making it 5 from 5 and handing him pole for the final. Thompson would line up in 2nd alongside him. Nicklas Nielsen was 3rd with Maloney in 4th. Edgar had a horrid run in the final heat leaving him 15th, just in front of championship leader Janker. Much to Janker’s dismay, Hiltbrand just managed to qualify for the final in 34th.
Off the start there was a big incident taking out 4 drivers, one of them being Hannes Janker, forcing him out on the spot. That meant that if Hiltbrand could fight his way through to the front of the 25 lap final, he stood a chance of the title. 1 lap in, Patterson was controlling the race at the front with a half second gap to Thompson. As it stood, Janker still held the title, 13 points clear from Thompson.
5 laps in, Hiltbrand had managed to pull himself up to 17th, but he would still have some serious work to do to get on terms with a title shot. Thinking about the title, Thompson was dropping back from Patterson, Thompson had Nielsen for company, who was looking to push up the field. There was a 3 kart battle shaping up for 4th with Luigi Coluccio, Kas Haverkort & Callum Bradshaw trying to stay ahead of Zane Maloney. Haverkort ran wide on the exit of turn 1, giving Bradshaw 5th and allowing Maloney a shot at 6th.
Maloney wasted no time in getting passed Haverkort, forcing his way through at turn 7, taking the place through turn 8. Maloney then charged after Bradshaw, trying a similar move but Bradshaw was wise to it and held him off. 13 laps in Haverkort was off in the barriers at turn 5. Meanwhile at the front, Patterson was setting fastest lap after fastest lap and had checked out at the front of the field. Thompson had a good gap over Nielsen who was being challenged by Coluccio’s Birel-ART. With 5 to go the 4 started fighting.
Coluccio made the move for 3rd, briefley getting it done, but Nielsen defended hard to retain the place. That allowed Bradshaw & Maloney to catch up and pass the Italian driver. Coluccio was now in damage limitation mode, and managed to get the run on Maloney to hold on to 5th. Nielsen held onto his podium place but now had Bradshaw behind him. Bradshaw looked to be developing a problem, he looked over his shoulder and Coluccio threw his kart up the inside, which allowed Maloney through as well.
There was nobody who could get on Patterson’s level. He eventually crossed the line 6.6 seconds clear of Thompson. Nielsen would check out from the chasing pack to take the final podium spot. Luigi Coluccio came home 4th, just fending off Zane Maloney. Callum Bradshaw finished in 6th. Only 19 karts would take the chequred flag with Hilbrand also failing to see the chequred flag.
This confirmed Hannes Janker as the champion, Harry Thompson secured the vice champion spot with Pedro Hiltbrand dropping back to 3rd. Zane Maloney jumped up to 4th ahead of Juho Valeanen who was running 3rd, but 14th in the final saw him drop back. Thanks to his perfect weekend, Patterson jumped up to 8th, having only run 2 rounds of the series.
This all bodes well for Patterson who will be looking to become a double world champion in a months time in Sweden.
Image: CIK-FIA
