This has never happened before in Germany: With more than 240 drivers, Kerpen experienced the largest RMC event that has ever existed in Germany on the last weekend in April. The Rotax MAX Challenge Germany, the partner format of the RMC Cup Series as well as the guest series of the Belgian RMC (BMC) and the T4 Series Germany, came together on the 1,107-meter-long traditional track of the Erftlandring. The recently expanded paddock was literally bursting at the seams and the schedule was tight with 29 races over two days. In the end, the mega event ran smoothly and offered top class karting in spring-like conditions... ( Text Timo Deck & Jen Wade - Photos Timo Deck)
02/05/23 - Races
Author: Vroomkart International
New winners in the younger classes Muys Cees (Maranello) set the first exclamation mark with the youngest field [of Micro MAX-aged drivers]: The Dutchman set the fastest lap in qualifying ahead of Henri Moehring (Nees Racing). The latter then took over the lead in the races. Even if none of the three races was easy, he still managed to narrowly win all of them. In the daily standings, Cees and the winner of the opening round, Max Moor (C4 Racing), filled the other top positions.
In the older Mini MAX category, leader of the standings Maxim Becker (C4 Racing) continued where he left off at the start of the season in Wackersdorf: As the fastest in qualifying, he started the first race from pole position, which he almost won as expected. But from the second race, Niklas Cassarino (Nees Racing) proved to be a worthy opponent to match Becker. The two fought some interesting duels in the next sessions, which Cassarino won both times with a tactical final manoeuvre. In the daily standings, Roemerberger also won against Becker. Lenn Abbas completed the podium in third.
Dominant winners in the Juniors The field of 34 national Junior MAX was firmly in Belgian-Dutch hands, with Kasper Schormans (JJ Racing) standing out in particular: With two wins and a second place, he just missed the maximum number of points - and was close in the second race. Finally, a technical problem cost the victory. Behind the Dutchman, the fastest in qualifying, Mika van de Pavert (SP Motorsport) from Belgium fought his way up to second place ahead of Max Sadurski (Sodi), another guest from the Netherlands. As the best German driver, Raphael Baltzer (Sodi) took fifth place in the final ranking.
The spectators experienced a dominant performance in the Cup Junior class: There was no getting past Theo Lang (Kraft Motorsport). After the best time in training, the Gillard driver drove home two clear victories and sealed the victory for the day. Behind him, team-mate Louis Oliver Guenther finished second in front of Florian Block (Schollenberger Racing).
Seniors: Wins for Maassen, Lindloff and Thien Local hero Nico Hantke (3G Racing) used his home advantage in qualifying for the national Senior MAX class. With a narrow lead, he secured pole position for the first race. Here, however, Montego Maassen (Kraft Motorsport) won all three races and scored the full points for the daily classification with a respectable margin. Behind the winner, Nico Hantke and Dutchman Bas Janssen secured top places to finish their weekend on the podium.
In the Cup Seniors, Henry Lindloff (Parolin) presented himself in impressive form. Starting from pole position, he catapulted himself to a double victory. It wasn't easy for him though. Above all, Kiril Gense (Exprit) made life more difficult in the races. A disqualification due to being underweight cost the Wuppertaler a secure podium finish. Jacob Trost (Woik Motorsport) came second and Fabian Kriegler (Kraft Motorsport) third. In the races of the BMC Seniors, Jayden Thien (RR Racing) prevailed as the day's winner against Devyan Roest (Tony Kart) and Dion van Waerven (CRG). With two full grids, the Senior MAX groups were separated for their own individual series respectively from Belgium and Germany.
DD2 Masters: Thum becomes series leader mid-season Denis Thum showed an impressive performance in the national DD2 Masters. The multiple RMC champion made no mistakes in Kerpen, set the best time in practice and won all three rounds. The strongest resistance came from recent RMC Euro Trophy round one winner Michael Becker (Compkart), who was able to put Thum under pressure several times, but ultimately had to settle for second place behind the day's winner and half-time champion. For quite some time, Nico Grimm (Woik Motorsport), winner of the season opener and leader of the standings, competed for third place. In the last race, however, he got into a fight and had to park his kart prematurely. With that, Dimitri Ostrovs (BirelART) got the remaining place on the podium.
In the classification of the DD2 Masters Cup, Keke Hausmann (Sodi) and Mark Slevogt (RTM Racing Team-Marggraf) shared race victories, with Slevogt winning the decisive second race and thus also winning the day's classification. Johannes Schweppler (Exprit) completed the final result as third.
DD2: Braeken and Eckstein win Tom Braeken (SP Motorsport) was the man of the hour in the national RMC DD2 class. The Belgian secured the best time in qualifying and turned pole position into a controlled victory in the first race. After that, the competition stepped it up at the front, but there was no getting past the KR driver in the second run either. Only in the last race did he lose out to his compatriot Maxim Dirickx (Schepers Racing). A subsequent disqualification for the winner brought Braeken the maximum number of points and the day's victory. The Germans Florian Breitenbach (Nees Racing) and Jannik Jakobs (Kraft Motorsport) took the places of honor at the prizegiving.
Among the Rotax DD2 Cup drivers, the fastest in qualifying, Jan Eckstein (RS Competition) and Lucas Lippert (RTM Racing Team Marggraf) fought a great battle for the day's win. In the end, both were tied at the top, with Eckstein winning the higher-scoring second race to climb to the top step of the podium. Cedric Mueller (IPK Germany) made the top three in the final count perfect.
Tight races in der T4 Series The T4 Series Germany also ran at the event in Kerpen: The 4-stroke championship once again convinced with its entry-level concept and showed a high level of performance with exciting races. At the end, Dirk Prochnow won the day's classification of the T4 Seniors ahead of Michael Meyer and Nico Franke. In the Junior classification, Maximilian Zhang (KSR Racing Team) held his own against his opponent Mika Sprenz.
Event organizer Andreas Matis (Kartodrom) was very satisfied overall in the evening: “We really experienced an incredibly great event. It took a lot of strength and effort to set up such a mega event and, above all, to be able to handle it without any problems. The fact that we were just ten minutes behind schedule after the last race shows how well the organization worked. Thanks are also due to the participants who delivered exemplary sport and thus avoided major incidents. Now we can take a deep breath before we start the next race.”
The RMC Germany and the RMC Cup Series are now taking a longer break before the next exchange of blows takes place on July 22-23 in Arena E, Muelsen.
RMC Germany website – www.karthandel.com
From the Belgian RMC series, Esmée Rosman from Karting Genk believes the idea of cooperating with another RMC championship for such events provides a great opportunity on all accounts. “Firstly, I owe a big thank you to Andreas Matis and his team from Germany. 246 entries and a very tight schedule, but it all went very smoothly! He has done a really good job to organise everything for Kerpen. It was a good weekend. I enjoyed watching the races and we saw sensational competition in all the Rotax classes. Junior MAX was very exciting with a few drivers being very close in points and on track. We actually split the senior groups so we had Senior National from RMC Germany and Senior BMC. We did this because we both had 36 drivers in Senior MAX. This was to give everybody fair chances towards the championship (since only the drivers that start in the final will get points), which was very much appreciated. In DD2, the battle between Maxim Dirickx and Tom Braeken is a thrilling one to follow. This is only Tom‘s first year driving DD2, but this class really seems to fit him very well as he also has been performing very strong in the BNL Series. ”
The third round of the Belgian RMC takes place later this month on May 20-21 back over the border at Circuit Karting Des Fagnes in Mariembourg. This is the opening event of the combined Benefit League series together with the Dutch Chrono Karting RMC, based on a two round championship, where points also contribute to both the BMC and Dutch RMC standings.
BMC website – www.belgianmaxchallenge.de
RESULTS
Text Timo Deck & Jen Wade - Photos Timo Deck
In the older Mini MAX category, leader of the standings Maxim Becker (C4 Racing) continued where he left off at the start of the season in Wackersdorf: As the fastest in qualifying, he started the first race from pole position, which he almost won as expected. But from the second race, Niklas Cassarino (Nees Racing) proved to be a worthy opponent to match Becker. The two fought some interesting duels in the next sessions, which Cassarino won both times with a tactical final manoeuvre. In the daily standings, Roemerberger also won against Becker. Lenn Abbas completed the podium in third.
Dominant winners in the Juniors The field of 34 national Junior MAX was firmly in Belgian-Dutch hands, with Kasper Schormans (JJ Racing) standing out in particular: With two wins and a second place, he just missed the maximum number of points - and was close in the second race. Finally, a technical problem cost the victory. Behind the Dutchman, the fastest in qualifying, Mika van de Pavert (SP Motorsport) from Belgium fought his way up to second place ahead of Max Sadurski (Sodi), another guest from the Netherlands. As the best German driver, Raphael Baltzer (Sodi) took fifth place in the final ranking.
The spectators experienced a dominant performance in the Cup Junior class: There was no getting past Theo Lang (Kraft Motorsport). After the best time in training, the Gillard driver drove home two clear victories and sealed the victory for the day. Behind him, team-mate Louis Oliver Guenther finished second in front of Florian Block (Schollenberger Racing).
Seniors: Wins for Maassen, Lindloff and Thien Local hero Nico Hantke (3G Racing) used his home advantage in qualifying for the national Senior MAX class. With a narrow lead, he secured pole position for the first race. Here, however, Montego Maassen (Kraft Motorsport) won all three races and scored the full points for the daily classification with a respectable margin. Behind the winner, Nico Hantke and Dutchman Bas Janssen secured top places to finish their weekend on the podium.
In the Cup Seniors, Henry Lindloff (Parolin) presented himself in impressive form. Starting from pole position, he catapulted himself to a double victory. It wasn't easy for him though. Above all, Kiril Gense (Exprit) made life more difficult in the races. A disqualification due to being underweight cost the Wuppertaler a secure podium finish. Jacob Trost (Woik Motorsport) came second and Fabian Kriegler (Kraft Motorsport) third. In the races of the BMC Seniors, Jayden Thien (RR Racing) prevailed as the day's winner against Devyan Roest (Tony Kart) and Dion van Waerven (CRG). With two full grids, the Senior MAX groups were separated for their own individual series respectively from Belgium and Germany.
DD2 Masters: Thum becomes series leader mid-season Denis Thum showed an impressive performance in the national DD2 Masters. The multiple RMC champion made no mistakes in Kerpen, set the best time in practice and won all three rounds. The strongest resistance came from recent RMC Euro Trophy round one winner Michael Becker (Compkart), who was able to put Thum under pressure several times, but ultimately had to settle for second place behind the day's winner and half-time champion. For quite some time, Nico Grimm (Woik Motorsport), winner of the season opener and leader of the standings, competed for third place. In the last race, however, he got into a fight and had to park his kart prematurely. With that, Dimitri Ostrovs (BirelART) got the remaining place on the podium.
In the classification of the DD2 Masters Cup, Keke Hausmann (Sodi) and Mark Slevogt (RTM Racing Team-Marggraf) shared race victories, with Slevogt winning the decisive second race and thus also winning the day's classification. Johannes Schweppler (Exprit) completed the final result as third.
DD2: Braeken and Eckstein win Tom Braeken (SP Motorsport) was the man of the hour in the national RMC DD2 class. The Belgian secured the best time in qualifying and turned pole position into a controlled victory in the first race. After that, the competition stepped it up at the front, but there was no getting past the KR driver in the second run either. Only in the last race did he lose out to his compatriot Maxim Dirickx (Schepers Racing). A subsequent disqualification for the winner brought Braeken the maximum number of points and the day's victory. The Germans Florian Breitenbach (Nees Racing) and Jannik Jakobs (Kraft Motorsport) took the places of honor at the prizegiving.
Among the Rotax DD2 Cup drivers, the fastest in qualifying, Jan Eckstein (RS Competition) and Lucas Lippert (RTM Racing Team Marggraf) fought a great battle for the day's win. In the end, both were tied at the top, with Eckstein winning the higher-scoring second race to climb to the top step of the podium. Cedric Mueller (IPK Germany) made the top three in the final count perfect.
Tight races in der T4 Series The T4 Series Germany also ran at the event in Kerpen: The 4-stroke championship once again convinced with its entry-level concept and showed a high level of performance with exciting races. At the end, Dirk Prochnow won the day's classification of the T4 Seniors ahead of Michael Meyer and Nico Franke. In the Junior classification, Maximilian Zhang (KSR Racing Team) held his own against his opponent Mika Sprenz.
Event organizer Andreas Matis (Kartodrom) was very satisfied overall in the evening: “We really experienced an incredibly great event. It took a lot of strength and effort to set up such a mega event and, above all, to be able to handle it without any problems. The fact that we were just ten minutes behind schedule after the last race shows how well the organization worked. Thanks are also due to the participants who delivered exemplary sport and thus avoided major incidents. Now we can take a deep breath before we start the next race.”
The RMC Germany and the RMC Cup Series are now taking a longer break before the next exchange of blows takes place on July 22-23 in Arena E, Muelsen.
RMC Germany website – www.karthandel.com
From the Belgian RMC series, Esmée Rosman from Karting Genk believes the idea of cooperating with another RMC championship for such events provides a great opportunity on all accounts. “Firstly, I owe a big thank you to Andreas Matis and his team from Germany. 246 entries and a very tight schedule, but it all went very smoothly! He has done a really good job to organise everything for Kerpen. It was a good weekend. I enjoyed watching the races and we saw sensational competition in all the Rotax classes. Junior MAX was very exciting with a few drivers being very close in points and on track. We actually split the senior groups so we had Senior National from RMC Germany and Senior BMC. We did this because we both had 36 drivers in Senior MAX. This was to give everybody fair chances towards the championship (since only the drivers that start in the final will get points), which was very much appreciated. In DD2, the battle between Maxim Dirickx and Tom Braeken is a thrilling one to follow. This is only Tom‘s first year driving DD2, but this class really seems to fit him very well as he also has been performing very strong in the BNL Series. ”
The third round of the Belgian RMC takes place later this month on May 20-21 back over the border at Circuit Karting Des Fagnes in Mariembourg. This is the opening event of the combined Benefit League series together with the Dutch Chrono Karting RMC, based on a two round championship, where points also contribute to both the BMC and Dutch RMC standings.
BMC website – www.belgianmaxchallenge.de
RESULTS
Text Timo Deck & Jen Wade - Photos Timo Deck
-
Serial success at the WSK Super Master Series
-
Fast-paced Formula-K Kart Circuit (ZA) Sees Dramatic RMC Battles
Articles related to: Rotax Kart
06/12/23
On Track
05/12/23
On Track
Articles related to Section: Races
01/12/23
Races
14/11/23
Races
