Good start to Max' special karting weekend in Bahrain
Published on 21 November 2013 by Niels Hendrix
It is the beginning of a special weekend for Max Verstappen. The 16-year old will participate in his last kart event of the season, before starting his single seater career in 2014. The Viva Karting Track in Sakhir, Bahrain hosts the final and deciding round of the CIK-FIA World Championship KF. Max is seen as the favourite for the world title as he dominated the first and previous round at the PF International Circuit (Great Britain) in September.
It is the first time the 1414 meter long Bahraini track is home to the karting elite. However, it is not just the track the drivers have to get used to. As some of the sessions are driven as late as 21.00 hours local time, the participants face the challenge of driving under artificial lights.
Furthermore, to respect the Islamic traditions in Bahrain (the first working day is a Sunday, not Monday) the whole event has been shifted a day forward. This means the (pre)finals will take place on Saturday, November 23.
Tuesday gave Max the chance to participate in five free practice sessions. Unfortunately, he only managed to drive in the first three. Max: "After that it started to rain a lot. This meant the track was flooded." Despite the temperature being well above 20 degrees, it was the draining system that failed to make the circuit drivable. Regardless of the missed track time, Max insisted he clocked some impressive lap times.
On the Wednesday, the drivers were greeted to a wet track for the first practice session. However, the remaining four heats were dry, which meant Max was able to get in a lot of laps, driving his TM-motor powered CRG-kart with automatic transmission. As the last two sessions on Wednesday were driven under official timing, Max had a chance to compare his pace to the others. In the group of participants with an odd number, the Dutchman clocked a fastest lap in the first timed heat (52,886s) while obtaining second place in the second session (52,539s). However, in the latter session, Max set his time with used tires, whereas his direct opponents were on fresh rubber.
"The first session was wet but I managed to go round four tenths of a second faster than the other KF drivers", said Max at the end of a productive Wednesday on which he felt happy with his dry pace. "It felt good, but times are hard to compare as there are plenty of opportunities to cut the track and to make corners bigger than they actually are, as there is a lot of tarmac next to the track. You can easily gain two or three tenths of a second in those sections."
The Thursday will be all about fine tuning for the CRG team. "It's a slippery track because of the amount of sand on it, which makes it a challenge to find a good balance for the set up. At the moment we are trying to find more rear end grip."
The changing track conditions intrigue Max as the first sessions are driven by day light before the evening heats are illuminated by the artificial lights. "It looks beautiful, although it doesn't really affect my driving. However, the thing I like most about this track, is going round it in the rain."
The drivers will get more opportunities to test with several free practices and the qualifying practice on Thursday. Friday serves as qualifying day with three qualifying heats, before the Saturday will see a new KF World Champion crowned as the prefinal and the final are lined up.
The event schedule for Max (KF category):
Thursday November 21 13.40-13.55 Free practice 1 (odd numbers) 15.00-15.15 Free practice 2 (odd numbers) 16.20-16.35 Free practice 3 (odd numbers) 17.05-17.13 Qualifying practice Friday November 22 13.25-13.45 Warm up (odd numbers) 15.20-15.35 Qualifying heat 1 16.40-16.55 Qualifying heat 2 18.40-18.55 Qualifying heat 3 Saturday November 23 13.40-14.00 Warm up (odd numbers) 15.20-15.50 Drivers' presentation 16.20-16.40 Prefinal (20km) 19.20-19.50 Final (30km)
Live timing is available at www.cikfiachampionship.com/live_timing.asp. The live stream will be available on Saturday afternoon: www.cikfiachampionship.com/live_streaming.asp.
You can find the latest new on the Verstappen Twitter (http://twitter.com/VerstappenFans) Max' personal Twitter account (http://twitter.com/MaxVerstappen3) and of course, on a daily basis, on the Verstappen Info Page. Do not forget to 'like' us on Facebook!
Results (Wednesday) of the 2nd round of the CIK-FIA World Championship 2013 (KF category):
Results free practice 4 (odd numbers)
Results free practice 5 (odd numbers)
Niels Hendrix / Stefan Meens
