With the end of the qualifying heats, the Friday brought a lot of satisfaction as well as disappointment in the French clan. The success of all of the drivers in DD2 Masters is obviously a good overall performance. Christophe Adams ended his excellent run with 7th place which gives him a promising fifth place for the finals. Marc Berteaux got the same result in the last heat and confirmed his place in the top 10, more accurately in ninth position, which understandably delighted him. Despite water getting in to the air box which slowed him during three quarters of heat 3, putting him 20th at the finish, Morgan Hipp is still 13th. However, he was very comfortable in the rain and did not stop there: the top 10 is his minimum goal in the final. Michael Dauphin saved his position with fourth after his unfortunate retirement and starts on the 7th row in the prefinal. Thanks to a superb final heat in the wet where he finished in fifth position, Guillaume Berteaux was pleased to qualify 21st after his problems on of the previous days. He hoped it would rain on Saturday…
It was an excellent surprise for Lucas Joly in DD2 who took 6th in his last heat and thus qualified for the final after a good effort that reflects his desire to fight, saying: “You always believe!” Let go of it with a smile afterwards. Alex Finkelstein also drove his his best race of the meeting back from the back of the grid up to ninth position with his aggressiveness. However, this was not enough, but it was an inspiring effort. There was also a big disappointment for Maxime Gravouille, who started 3rd in the Repechage draft but ejected on the first lap. Philosophically, he commented: “I know from experience that karting brings more disappointment than joy, but it’s so hard that when you win, it justifies the tough times like this. That said, I still would have liked to run in the final … “
Xavier Pozzoli is more and more confident. Enjoying a great start in the final heat, he took a sixth place that ranked him 25th and so to calmly prepare for the finals. The biggest disappointment was perhaps that of Jules Cousin who started eighth the Repechage and rose convincingly to fourth position and just about to take third. The driver did the job, no doubt about that. But then the sky fell on his head when he learned of his downgrading caused by a non-compliant carb part, which is surprising for equipment supplied by Rotax …
Bastien Leguay did not have the time to fit wet tyres in the last race and obviously he couldn’t run on slicks under water. Retirement did not, however, put him out of the final, in 17th overall and still confident for the future.
With 8 out of 11 drivers qualified the Team France score is far from disappointing!
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