Racereport SKCC Växjö

Växjö is the shortest track on the calendar and we didn't have too high hopes for this competition. Turned out we did pretty well even though we came home with a slightly damaged kart. With P12 we came really close to fulfilling the goal of P10 in one of the races this season. Fingers crossed next time will be even better...

We headed for Växjö thursday afternoon with a feeling that this would be a hard competition for us. The track is with its 840m the shortest track on the calendar and we felt there might be a few red and blue flags in the final. First pass went really well though and Tuva must have been one of the fastest around the track. The feeling was great and the gear must have been a great first choice. We followed up with more great times but at lunchtime we felt that we might have started to fall back a bit. Suddenly we lost more than half a second and we started to wonder what was going on. Looking back at the data the tyre age turned out to be the reason. Bolted better tyres and we were back again. We weren't the fastest but we think we might have been pretty clear into top 10, our goal for the season.

We knew at this point our tyres were ok but not new. We didn't know how much that would mean in laptime but during practice Tuva felt the grip was fine, but maybe not excellent. After practice we mounted the new racingtyres and did some small modifications to the setup.

Slightly uncertain to how much new tyres will affect us we opted to start a bit later than the others to get clean air and free track. It took a few laps before everything started to heat up but then she was flying! She had really good pace and ended up P2 in the first group which we were really happy with! The first group is usually a tad slower than the second group which is why they always take every second driver instead of the real laptime when creating the starting grid. Well, apparently the new tyres made a significant difference!

Tell me the happiness that lasts. Tuva started P3 in the first heat, got pushed from behind into P2 in the start but both drivers managed to continue. Half a lap later Tuva was in an incident and had to retire with a bent steering strut and knee pain. Lets hope for the next one!

Once again Tuva was pushed wide in the start and lost a few places due to this. After the first few corners she defended well and started to get up to speed. The first laps she had a gap up to next kart but as soon as she got some heat into the tyres she was faster and started to reduce the distance. The track is short however and it is really hard to overtake here even though the width of the track is quite decent. She made a really good overtaking attempt and was actually up next to the other driver but couldn't get ahead before the next corner. With the first heat in mind and a quick driver behind Tuva decided it was better to reach the finish line than to try and overtake and she managed her place to the checkered flag.

Tuva started good considering she was P13 after the heats and maintained her position the first laps and followed another fast driver to catch up with those ahead. When they started to pass other drivers Tuva had to avoid a contact into turn one but got into contact in turn two and almost lost the entire front bumper. Unfortunately the bumper got stuck in the front right wheel and she had reduced speed after that. After the heat she got a front fairing penalty and the front bumper was deemed irrepairable. Really annoying considering this was the first race with that bumper.

The meteorologist turned to be right and a while before the final the rain started to fall. There were no discussion wether or not to use the rain tyres since the track was soaked. Starting P13 when the rain is pouring down it was all about staying on track and avoid karts spinning in the start. Tuva was both skilled and lucky and managed to avoid all incidents, but the kart was pretty slippery. She lost a few places from faster karts behind but also gained a few from passing and spinning karts. P13 in the end, didn't get the blue/red flag and ended up P12 after penaties applied. Pretty good after all and we are closing in on that P10 finnish we are aiming for.

A huge thanks to EKS, Erik Magnussen and Thomas Andersson for help with the kart. Also a big thanks to Veidec for helping us with their excellent products!