Philipp Walsdorf at KNAF Cup Mariembourg

On Karting des Fagnes the participants of KNAF cup met on the second weekend in march the belgian IAME X30 championship in the Benelux open. In his second step on international stage in belgian Mariembourg Philipp Walsdorf missed his self-confidencem, later on bad luck was added.
On the competitive and for Philipp Walsdorf totally unknown track he first had some difficulties in finding the ideal line. In the very strong and numerous field of competitors he had a distance of some tenths of a second to the top ranking in free practice. Until qualifying practice Philipp could not really close  the gap and had to be satisfied starting from position thirtythree. During the first heat another competitor crashed into the back of Philipps kart right before the starting line and turned him around. This action as well made him hit the back of the kart in front of him which made released front spoiler. Regardless the cause this means a ten second penalty in KNAF championship.
One does not know if the crash made some change in Philipps head. Anyway after that incident Philipp took his way from the last position, which he had after the crash, up to position sixteen during that race. His speed now was at the level of the top drivers in the field. But, as mentioned before he had the ten seconds penalty, so he officially ended the race on position twentynine.
Second heat, which ran on Sunday, went far better for Philipp. Without accident he could take the fast lane once again and ended the race on position eight. In this race he really could show his class. For the final race the addition meant starting place twentyeight.
After a good start into the final race bad luck was waiting for Philipp in the second corner, where some karts crashed and blocked parts of the track. Trying to pass the incident another competitor tried to use the same line as Philipp at the same time and so Philipp found himself standing backwards at the last position again. Philipp fought himself back into the competitors field and started passing the others but few laps later his challenge ended after another contact with a competitor in the grass besides the track. After pulling it back on the track the gap between him an d the rest of the field was so large that he did not manage to close it. Twenty seconds behind the rest he finished the race.
The result does not really show his performance but that is race. Now it is necessary to analize how to improve the qualifying, so Philipp will not have to take the risk of passing all the other competitors during the race. HTP-Kart Team around Christian Voss again did a marvellous job, bringing three more dirvers on track in Mariembourg. As always the mechanics had prepared the karts very professional which was shown by fast lap times.
The event was well organized, the weather like spring. And fourtyseven competitors in the X30 senior class was totally new for Philipp. In spite of the bad luck he had he was able to leave seventeen participants behind him.