Cathal Clark steals the show in Essay
Image © Fotocar13
The opening round of the X30 Euro Series kicked off at Circuit International d’Aunay Les Bois, otherwise known as Essay. The first of the 3 classes to head into battle was the Mini X30 class, with a total of 40 drivers taking to the track.
The first order of business was qualifying, with drivers split into 2 groups with the opening session topped by Fusion Motorsport’s Fionn McLaughlin lapping the French circuit in 55.139 seconds. Just half a tenth back was fellow Fusion driver Cathal Clark. Clement Outran broke up the Fusion boys in 3rd with Louis Leveau making it 3 Fusion drivers in the top 4. The 2nd session would see another Fusion driver, Sacha Bosch take the top spot, but his 55.189 wasn’t enough to beat McLaughlin. 2nd was Switzerland’s Tiziano Kuzhnini with Spain’s Alex Martinz beating Winter Cup winner Leo Robinson to 3rd.
After qualifying, the drivers faced 3 heats each, where the Fusion domination continued. Fusion drivers won all but one heat, with Leo Robinson taking a perfect score of 3 wins to secure pole position for the Pre-Final. Clark would take a single win, which was enough to secure a front row start while McLaughlin also won a single heat to sit 3rd. The only non-Fusion driver to take a heat win was Outran, who took the first heat of the weekend. However, he would finish 7th in his final heat, meaning he was beaten to 4th in the standings by Martinz whose 2nd, 3rd and 4th was enough to beat the Frenchman. One of the big gainers was Spain’s Denis Curavale, who ended qualifying dead last, but would start the pre-final from 15th place after a trio of top 10 results.
The 36 kart pre-final would see a rather messy start, with Outran running out wide on the opening lap and dropping down the order like a stone while the Fusion trio of Robinson, McLaughlin and Clark lead the way. Outran’s day would go from bad to worse, being handed a 5 second penalty for contact with Louis Cochet. The final laps were frantic, with the 3 Fusion boys fighting allowing Praga’s Adrian Benito and Alex Martinez to close in. McLaughlin snagged the lead from Robinson and defended for his life to take the pre-final win ahead of Robinson and Benito. A front fairing penalty would drop Clark down to 9th being Kuzhini and Alex O’Grady who climbed 8 places to finish 5th.
McLaughlin took the lead into the first corner with Adrian Benito slotting himself into 2nd in front of the two Fusion boys behind lead by Alex O’Grady. It wasn’t long before the numbers game of Fusion allowed them to get back passed Benito, dropping him down to 4th behind Robinson and O’Grady. Clark was also on a charge early on, jumping up to 5th in the opening lap, leaving Benito between himself and his team mates. Behind the leaders, Outran was on a charge, climbing up to 17th in the first 2 laps from 26th on the grid.
Back at the front, it was now a Fusion 1-2-3-4 as Clark threw his way passed Benito, but it was obvious there was no team orders at play, as the 4 were squabbling over who would lead the way. Robinson would force his way through to take the lead off the pre-final winner as Clark seethed his way passed O’Grady to take 3rd. As the final hit half distance, Robinson and McLaughlin were starting to pull away from Clark behind, while other were fighting through the field. Denis Curavale had already found 12 places to move into 10th while Outran was now inside the top 15.
With the laps running out, Robinson was holding McLaughlin up, which was allowing Clark to close in behind. With the gap shrinking, McLaughlin seased his opportunity and dived down the inside of the first corner to take the lead away from Robinson. Clark then piled the pressure on Robinson for 2nd, but Robinson had his eyes forward. Robinson dived to the inside of the 2nd hairpin, trying to force his way through. McLaughlin was having none of it. The pair touched, sending Robinson into the grass and promoting Clark to 2nd. But things wouldn’t end there. Clark and O’Grady were now close behind, but couldn’t get the move done.
McLaughlin would cross the line first, but would be handed a 10 second penalty thanks to his move for the lead on Robinson happening under yellow flags. That would promote Clark to the win ahead of Alex O’Grady with Kuzhnini completing the podium in 3rd. Having fought early on for the win, Benito would finish the day 4th while Sandro Perez climbed from 12th to 5th at the flag. Robinson would end the race 11th, just behind the penalised McLaughlin and behind Curavale who would end the day 7th, finding 15 places in the final.
