A weekend of contrasts, full of twists and an incredible happy ending, summarises the second round of the WSK Super Master Series for Gabriel Aubry at the 7 Laghi circuit at Castelletto. It is also a good illustration of the potential of this amazing driver. On Saturday night, with a 42nd place in the intermediate classification, the Tony Kart driver was not tipped for a result, but ...
With second fastest time in his group in qualifying, 4th overall, Gabriel confirmed the effectiveness of his very clean driving style, but the heats were to be catastrophic. At the first start on the outside lane, he went out at the first corner, stalled and set off again last with a considerable delay, even though he had started from the front row. Not discouraged, he attacked like a man possessed, and caught up with the pack and passed as much as he could. He limited the damage with a 16th place and fastest lap. The other two races ended in two retirements with mechanical problems while Gabriel had been in 4th and 2nd positions. Nothing to worry about for the competition.Tony Kart Racing Team mobilized all their resources and experience to provide Gabriel with a competitive machine for the prefinals, as they had for the heats. The team's work was bearing fruit, as the Vortex engine was at full power and allowed the driver to take full advantage of the Tony Kart chassis on the twisty Castelletto track. As motivated as ever, Aubry attacked from the start of prefinal-B, already gaining seven places at the lights, then nine more positions on his opponents without a pause to finish fourth at the end of the 16 laps, with a bonus of the second fastest lap time.The final was similar: an impeccable start from 8th place to 4th on the sector of the first lap and up towards the front of the race, including overtaking his teammate Karol Basz. The gap to the leader decreased over the laps, but not enough to deny him victory. Gabriel finished an incredible second place, ahead of third by almost 3''. The performance from the driver from the Equipe de France FFSA Karting was unanimously praised.
"It is of course a great pleasure to return to the podium positions," Gabriel explained. "Since the beginning of my first season in KF, I was often fast, but could not get a really good result. I have the chance to race for one of the best teams, we work hard and it does pay off. Even though I had a lot of trouble early in the weekend at Castelletto, I was confident because I knew I could run at least as fast as the best. In my situation, the challenge was to avoid accidents and not to lose time in overtaking. I think I am on the way!"
