Great comeback up into the final following disappointing qualifying
The young rising star Niklas Krütten has been impressing on the international karting scene in the still young season recently. He showed once more his aspiring performance during the WSK Super Masters on the International Circuit in La Conca (Italy) last weekend. An unfaulty accident forced him to retire, but Niklas collected important championship points, stunned with continuingly strong lap times and ended the weekend again as the best racer from Germany in this internationally high-end starting field.
194 racers from 33 nations participated in this Top-Event in Italy. The class OK Junior, in which Niklas takes part this year, had been the strongest class again with a total of 56 competitors. Niklas found a good rhythm early on on this demanding track and lapped times comparable to the front runners. But unfortunately, bad luck struck the racer from Trier during qualifying. Many changes for positions hindered Niklas from getting a clear lap and the necessary slipstream, resulting in a frustrating 48th position.
Niklas started from P19 on the grid in the first two pre-races on Friday and Saturday, finishing as ninth and eighth and making great progress. The last two “heats” were not as successful with P17 and P19. The track in South Italy started to become more grippy with the rising summerly temperatures and Niklas had a few difficulties in the beginning to adapt his driving style to the changing, and for him, new conditions. During the pre-runs, the Trierer was still able to make up a lot of places, being listed as P34 in the total ranking – a great comeback after the poor qualifying.
By Sunday morning, Niklas had got to grips with the conditions and sounded to charge with the seventh best lap time on old tyres during Warm-up. In pre-final, he fought his way up from 17th into a great sixth place finish. With a starting position of P12 from the best 34, he was in close distance to earn a top result. But the hard work was not going to be paid off. He started on the disadvantaged outer line on the grid. On lap three only, another driver drove into the back of his kart and catapulted him in the air. Niklas escaped unhurt, but was forced to retire from the race with a broken chassis. He was still listed as 29th best in the rankings and was able to collect important points for the championship from the pre-runs and the pre-final.
“Accidents and pushing someone around are just part of this sport. But this accident was a truly causelessly action and you have to ask yourself what or if something goes on in the mind of some of the drivers“, says Niklas. “Of course I am frustrated. We had such a great fight back after the poor qualifying and it was more than realistic to finish in the Top-10. But it is great to be able to take home some valid points and I am the best German racer in the third time running, that feels great.”
There are many great racing events awaiting Niklas. After a few tests during the next few weeks, the young racer from Trier will compete at the CIK-FIA European Championship on the Circuito Internacionale de Zuera in Spain.
