Tricky French weather
The weather was not kind to Gender Tamás Junior at the weekend. The young driver of the Hungarian Motorsport Academy started the OKJ round in France with high hopes, as he had already had the opportunity to test himself at the Val d'Argenton race track in the previous weeks. In the free practice sessions, these high expectations were confirmed, as Tamás was placed a few hundredths of a second from the first place, at the front of the field.
Successes in the first race
By the first race, conditions had returned to normal and Gender Tamás Junior showed his potential again, finishing in the top 10, just 0.031 thousandths off the fastest lap of the race! With his strong race pace, he was looking forward to race 2 with confidence, but due to the inattention of a competitor he was forced to complete the race with a damaged kart. The guilty driver was sent off for his unsportsmanlike manoeuvre, but this did not help the final result.
Encouraging pace
Tamás Gender Junior adapted well to the changing conditions of the third race, and with a sensational run and spectacular overtaking, he fought his way up to 5th place! Unfortunately, the team did not choose the best tactics, as the rain mixture used on Tamás' kart was applied before the start, causing the HMA driver's pace to drop off lap by lap as the race approached the end of the track. It was a huge positive that he was able to keep up with the front runners until the tyres dropped in performance!
Into the semi-finals once again
In the final day's warm-up session, Gender Tamás Junior again pushed the pace and finished 7th on the slippery, wet surface, just 2 tenths of a second from the fastest driver. He was on the verge of another outstanding result after a really battling performance in the semi-finals when a collision damaged the frame of his kart, forcing him to run the rest of the race weekend in far from ideal conditions and through no fault of his own, he was forced to drop back from the front of the field.
Work continues
Despite the difficulties, the HMA driver can look forward to the coming races with confidence, as he proved that his pace is on par with the front runners in the conditions and he has shown a number of overtaking skills in the races, and has been karting with confidence.
