At the end of the third meeting of the 2017 European Championship, the record of the Ricky Flynn Motorsport team is mixed. Despite varying weather conditions and very tough competition, performance was well-established for most of the seven RFM drivers. Sami Taoufik had the best result of his career in OK, while Jack Doohan moved up to the top five in OK-Junior. On the other hand a series of incidents caused the retirement of the other three Juniors.
The Le Mans (FRA) meeting proved more complicated than expected due to some showers and the intensity of the fighting on the track. The rainy periods in particular disrupted Qualifying Practice to such an extent that the 101% rule had to be applied, which was not always an advantage.
Sami Taoufik was 12th in Qualifying, but was 23rd in the overall standings due to the mixing of the groups. This did not prevent him from achieving excellent results in his Qualifying Heats and reaching 13th despite an incorrectly positioned spoiler penalty. He then drove a superb Final by gaining no less than 11 places in the heat of the action and finished 2nd, only 67 thousandths from the winner. This remarkable result allowed him to move up from 15th to 7th position in the provisional ranking of the European Championship.
The task was more complicated for his two teammates. Nikki Kruetten was unsuccessful in Qualifying Practice. He showed very good speed in the heats, gaining 16 places with the fastest lap in the race in the last one. But two incidents aggravated his score and he did not qualify for the Final. Matteo Nannini moved up to 29th place in the heats after his 38th place in Qualifying. His performance in the Final was unfortunately interrupted on lap five.
The race for the four Junior drivers, all qualified in the Final, proved quite complicated. Only Jack Doohan crossed the finish line in a very good 5th place after four laps under yellow flags. He had an excellent time in Qualifying and had solid heats and still gained seven places in the Final to get into the top five, moving up from 28th to 15th place in the Championship. Harry Thompson and Zak O'Sullivan alternated good and bad results in the heats and only started in 19th and 20th in the Final. They both made a good return to the top five when their trajectories crossed too closely, causing an accident that luckily didn't cause injury although it did cause a double retirement. More steady, Zane Maloney progressed from 23rd to 11th position in the heats, but he didn't finish the Final either. He did however set the best lap in the race before retiring.
There are two events in Finland and Sweden before the conclusion of the 2017 European Championships. The RFM drivers will have the opportunity to take advantage of the competitiveness of their FA Kart chassis powered by Vortex from One Engines to improve their respective positions.
Info Kartcom / © Photos KSP