Strong premiere at the German Championship
Last weekend the kick-off to the German Kart Championship took place in Wackersdorf. After last strong performances on international terrain, the twelve-year-old Niklas Krütten travelled to Upper Palatine to participate in the internationally renowned and highest German kart racing series. Due to strong performances the newbie from Trier was directly among the top ten.
After he lastly established himself among the top 30 drivers in the world at the WSK Super Masters Series, now things got serious for the newcomer at the German Junior Kart Championship as well. On the first weekend of May, the kick-off event of the German Kart Championship took place on the 1.222m long track of the Prokart Raceland Wackersdorf. Under the patronage of four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel, the twelve-year-old driver of the English team Forza Racing wants to prove himself in another challenging racing series.
He was among the top ten for quite a while during qualifying, couldn’t catch a free lap towards the end though and only ended up on 21st place. During the following heats the Trier resident then impressively proved his fighting qualities: Despite a collision he fought his way forward past his competition to tenth place during the first heat. He finished the second heat on the great seventh place. In the end, that meant twelfth starting position for the first final race on Sunday morning.
The conditions during the first race were far from easy for the drivers though: On the wet track Niklas was able to establish himself in the front field and crossed the finish line on sixth place after 17 exciting laps. The driver from Rhineland-Palatine got even farther during the second heat on the dry track: After a strong start he gained even more positions and achieved third place. Temporarily he even seemed to have chances of winning. But during a thrilling fight for second position, Niklas momentarily slid off the track and in the end finished the second race on eleventh place.
“I was clearly on my way to the podium and of course I’m a little disappointed. After the slip-up my tires were wet, cold and dirty and it took me a couple of laps to get back into the rhythm. All in all I’m still glad to have been able to drive among the top ten during my premiere race”, Niklas summed up in the end. Until the next event of the German Kart Championship in Belgian Genk from June 12th-14th he is now going to complete a couple of trainings units with his team Forza-Racing in England and Italy.