11/12/2023
🏁Yesterday, we finished the ninth edition of SRKC at Gokartcentralen in Kungälv (see pictures for the full result). In my opinion, the best rental kart competition on Swedish soil ever. This years entry list was very competetive
and the kart fleet was both equal and reliable.
📊We did complete 114 practice heats, 75 qualification heats, 7 semifinals and 3 finals before we could crown new champions of the north.
⚖️The race layout in SRKC is very different if you compare it to other similar events in Europe but it makes this championship special. We still focus on fair racing and during the event we had very few incidents. This year, our fair play award was given to the hungarian driver, Tibor Sajgo for his clean racing on track and his attitude off track. You almost made it to the final and should be very proud of yourself.
🙋♀️For the first time in SRKC history we also had a Womens championship. It should have been eight female drivers participating but close to the race weekend, five of them unfortunately had to cancel. Next year we will make more effort to get more female drivers on the entry list. Nevertheless, Elsa Sahlberg became the Queen of SRKC this year and it was well deserved. Congrats Elsa!
🇵🇱 Last year, a Polish trio dominated the Mini and Junior category. It didn´t change this year. Tomek Bernadowski was completely untouchable in the Mini category and won all of his heats, had the best lap time in all of his heats, won the semifinal and the final with a large margin. Amazing performance and he continued like a robot and won the Junior category as well. His countrymen, Szymon Wegrzyn, gave him a hard battle until the finish line.
🇸🇪 The Swedish duo, Sam Nygren and Alve Alehall completed the Mini podium and in the Masters category we did get a podium with only local Swedish drivers with Erkin Bour on top. Really cool to see Tomas Konsa and Mahras Neghabian challange world class drivers with no fear. Mahras, your hot laps were incredible to witness :D
💥 The Overall category was insane this year. Reigning champion, Nikolaj Marsengo got a tough start in the championship but worked his way back and won the first semifinal just ahead of his countrymen, Victor Sparholt. The second semifinal was a close affair between Ruben Boutens and Szymon Wegrzyn and after some strong last laps, Ruben took the victory. Wonderkid, Tomek Bernadowski, won the last semifnal. Max op den Kamp, who was on top after the five qualification rounds, ended up in second place.
😁 Before the final, it was just 4p between the leader (Boutens) and eight ranked Erkin Bour so it was really anyones game at this point. The fantastic kart parity did also made this final entertaining to watch. Starting position was based on a match race format and every 1/100 of a second got crucial. In the first round, the drivers ranked 1,2,3 and 5 was eliminated (!) which made it even more interessting. Mateusz Bartsch (Mr. Euro Lean) with his great experience claimed the pole position with his countrymen, Szymon Wegrzyn on second place. The final race over 20 laps was intense and with a great joker lap strategy, Wegrzyn took over the lead and could cross the finish line as the champion. Behind the Polish duo, Max op den Kamp had the best race pace and finished third but received a controversial penalty for the overtake on Victor Sparholt which put Victor on a final second place in the championship. Mateusz Bartsch ended up in third place.
Bluestar Academy with Ruben Boutens, Tomek Bernadowski and Max op den Kamp won the Team Championship.
Thank you to all drivers for making this championship so great and to Gokartcentralen for being the best possible host.
Best Regards
Glenn Gyllin
