Al Ain, 14 April 2012- Fabienne took part in the final Rotax DD2 Challenge race at the invitation of the Al Ain Raceway, racing the circuits own demo model Haase kart.
Fabienne struggled with an engine misfire and carburettor issues on set up during the practice sessions on the build up to the race weekend.
Fabienne had not raced on the Al Ain track before and had her first opportunity to get to grips with the unfamiliar Haase chassis all in just one day. This, coupled with the engine issues gave a very challenging situation for the UAEs favourite female kart star.
Having missed most of her practice Fabienne had to do all her set up in the warm up sessions and was delighted with her third fastest time despite the problems she was facing.
During the first heat Fabienne was still trying to get the set up right “It was quite tough in heat one as I was still trying to remember the corners, Its quite a technical track, but I like it a lot !. I fell back a lot in the first heat struggling to get heat in the tyres at the same time analysing the kart set up, but still managed to post the fastest lap time,” enthused Fabienne.
After the second heat Fabienne was getting more comfortable in the kart with some further tweeks, finishing in third and giving her a starting position of fifth in the final race of the day.
ready for the final race
During the final race Fabienne made her moves stick during the first 10 laps as she managed to climb up to take the lead for the remainder of the race till just four laps from the end Fabienne’s chance of a win faded as her old tyres started to degrade. The decision to not fit new rubber for the last heat had proved a bad move as her closest rivals had the grip advantage during the last laps of the race.
Fabienne was beaten to her first place finish by a championship contender Oliver George who battling for valuable points and she was happy to settle for second place as a guest driver representing the Al Ain Racway. Hasher Al Maktoum finished the podium in third place.
Fabienne in action
“I would like to thank Al Ain Raceway for their help and assistance for me to race their demo Kart, the friendly and helpful mechanics that assisted where needed, and my dad for his hard work!. A big thanks to my personal sponsors, GSC ( Gary Stephenson Computing) and all the private Individuals and fans that support me”. said Fabienne