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Salbris, France - 27th March 2005
Rotax European Championship
Round 1 Salbris-France
Luck was to play a big part at the first round of the European championship as we found out. A big grid of 34 Junior max drivers took part from all over the world.
Qualifying - After 4 days of solid testing, qualifying arrived and Jack went a lot further than anyone expected him too as he qualified 2nd behind South African Arnold Nevling. So a great start to the weekend as Jack secured himself a front row start in all his heats.
Heat 1 – Jack had a terrible start and ended up on the sand at the edge of the circuit falling all the way back to 30th place. Jack battled hard though and managed to get himself up to 12th position by the end of the race. A bad way to start the day.
Heat 2 – Jack got off to a decent start and had a substantial gap in 2nd position but he couldn’t catch the flying South African out in front.
Heat 3 – Jack got off to his best start of the day and was right on the back of number 35 Arnold Nevling and had 10 kart lengths over 3rd place man Chris Maliepaard from Holland but a minor error coming through the right left kink, left Jack in the sand and sent him back down to 4th. On the next lap Jack battled well and regained 2nd place but by now the South African had a substantial lead, and by lap 5 Jack was coming under pressure French driver Julien Neveu and on the last lap passed Jack into the hairpin at the end of the straight, leaving Jack in 3rd.
After an average day in the heats Jack managed to secure 4th on the grid next to the Japanese driver Nakano Kenta.
Pre Final – 4th on the grid for the Pre final and Jack got a good start and was up to 3rd by the first corner, but half a lap later Jack found himself in last place, when number 34 Maxime Jousse from France T boned him in the infield section. From then on it was just damage limitation exercise as Jack managed to battle through from 31st to 16th, in a very disappointing
Pre final.
Final – Starting 16th on the grid after a terrible Pre final. Jack got solid start and made up 2 positions on the first lap overtaking Steel Guiliana from Australia and Manuel Cabrera from Spain . From then on Jack drove a really strong race as he picked of numerous drivers as he managed to get to 4th with the 3rd place man in his sights and then on lap 9 Jack passed his way into 3rd as he dived down the inside of Maxime Jousse for 3rd. With a podium in his sight Jack new all he had to do was hold on. But Maxime Jousse wasn’t keen for that to happen and on the 2nd to last lap fired Jack straight of on to the grass, and that was it a week of hard testing, qualifying and heats and a good drive up to 3rd in the final all ruined on one corner by one driver. But then again that’s French drivers for you.
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