June 15/16th 2018 – Many people outside of Europe dream to race at the prestigious WSK. It has been one big dream of Fabienne to compete in this series as she powers her way through to the top, showing her talents in Motorsport.
In preparation to this race, Fabienne competed at the Trofeo D’Estate, the weekend prior 16/17June in the Senior Rok Category.
Fabienne opted to compete in the Senior Rok Category as it had a larger grid of 41 drivers over the weekend and her motto always is, “To be the best, you must beat the best” so Fabienne naturally always opts to compete in the more challenging classes.
Competing in South African conditions is a completely different ball game, so when coming to compete in Europe and now in the summer heat of around 34 degrees celcius, whereas in South Africa is now Winter and around 10 degrees, there is a lot to absorb and adapt to without a lot of time to do so.
Racing in the Formula-K Official Junior Team by Serafini Racing, Fabienne had a stumbling block set in front of her in Qualifying and in the first heat as she had powervalve issues, which caused her to lose performance on the mid sections on the ever so popular South Garda Karting Track in Lonato, Italy.
She managed to qualify 7th and ended 5th in the first qualifying heat. For the second qualifying heat they changed the engine, which was a good move as she had much better pace and was lying third, lining up the second position driver, when out of nowhere she had to t-boned by another competitor as he attempted a list minute ‘do or die’ move which caused him to drive straight over Fabienne and caused her to fall back to around 10th / 11th position.
With the qualifying heats shorter, Fabienne did not have much time to make up some positions as damage control. She managed 6th position which gave her an overall starting position 9th for the Final.
Naturally as all the lap times in the front 10 are so close, it makes it very difficult to move up the ranks.
“As a Driver you really need to figure out and in a high speed where you are faster, where you are slower and then plan where to overtake the other drivers before losing the front to be able to attempt at a win or podium finish,” Commented Fabienne.
The 18 lap Final proved to be too short, nonetheless Fabienne powered through and managed a podium in 5th place overall.
This very strong performance was good preparation for the big outing in the WSK where she will be competing in the OK category.
A lighter category, something Fabienne is totally not used to. She on average has to fit 15 to 20kg of lead depending where she competes.
So besides being an event she has never competed in, it is also a new experience to compete with hardly any lead on the kart.
“I am really excited for this weekend. I promised myself since the day I saw Jenson Button’s photo in a Formula A kart hanging at our local ASN’s wall, that the day I get to compete in that series, I will absorb and enjoy all the nerves, the hard work, sweat and tears from beginning to end’.
The weekend starts on Thursday 21 June and the Final will be on Sunday 24 June.
Please support Fabienne and you can watch her races on http://www.wskarting.it/
She will be in kart #232 in the Formula-K Chassis.