Niklas Krütten impresses with strong debut at European Championship
Niklas Krütten looks back upon his most successful race weekend in his still young Motorsport career. The young driver from Trier succeeded in entering the final at the season opener of the CIK-FIA European Championship on the Circuito Internacional in Zuera (Spain), finishing in P13 from 76 starters coming from 26 nations.
For the almost 80 drivers, who have come from all over the world to enter the OK Junior Class, it started to count on Saturday under beaming sunshine but a strong wind. Niklas was able to underline his competitive speed from Free Practice on Friday to finish in 14th place in qualifying on Saturday morning. He started from a promising P6 on the grid into the four pre-races. Despite starting on the more difficult outer line, he shown in three of four “Heats” with strong lap-times and a lot of fighting spirit to finish in third, fourth and sixth. Only a retirement in the third “Heat” spoilt the impressive performance by the young driver and set him back into 20th place overall after the pre-runs.
“The retirement in the third race was the result of a scuffle with two other drivers, but it was nobody to blame as it is normal in kart racing. It was a shame, because otherwise I could have secured a Top-10 result”, said Niklas on Saturday evening. “But today was a great day. It feels good to be able to compete against this internationally acclaimed drivers and to actually beat them.”
The Youngster started from P10 into one of the two pre-finals. Since he started once again on the disadvantaged outer line, Niklas lost a few positions. But he fought his way back up the ranking ladder lap-by-lap and crossed the finishing line in 10th position – securing him the participation in his first-ever final of a European Championship. He demonstrated his outstanding performance once again during the final on Sunday afternoon. He started from P20 and fought his way through the field with great overtakings up to 13th place with lap-times as fast as the Top-5 drivers. He collected important points towards the championship and secured once again the unofficial title of best German starter.
“Despite the small incident on Saturday without we would have been able to have a Top-5 result, it was an amazing weekend”, says Niklas after the race. “We knew we would be competitive, but you never know on a weekend like this. In the end, I am one of the Top-15 strongest drivers in the world, which is a fantastic feeling. I would like to thank my team Ricky Flynn Motorsport, One Engines and my Fitness Partner ProPerformance as well as Sascha Baschin.”
The young driver has no time now to rest on his laurels, since the final of the WSK Super Master Series takes place this week at the Adria International Raceway in Italy.