CRG & Verstappen - European KF Champions

CRG AND MAX VERSTAPPEN GET ALSO THE EUROPEAN CIK-FIA KF CHAMPIONSHIP. STRONG RESULT BY THE WHOLE TEAM

Max Verstappen wins the fourth title of the season in Ortona, securing also the European KF Championship. Very good result also for the other title contender, Felice Tiene and for Jordon Lennox-Lamb despite a penalty issued after the podium. Good performance by Alex Palou and for Marcu Dionisios in KF Junior.

Four titles! CRG and Max Verstappen hit the target once again securing the fourth title in four championships run this year. In Ortona's renewed International Circuit of Abruzzo CRG won the KF title in the European CIK-FIA Championship with the very quick “enfant prodige” Max Verstappen, followed with passion and dedication as always by his dad, former Formula 1 champion Jos, for whom it is legitimate to foresee a bright future in motor-racing. The destiny is already marked, Max Verstappen really has the makings of the great champions!

The very young Dutch driver (he will turn 16 next 30 September) and CRG obtained the success also in this European CIK-FIA Championship in KF; Verstappen is the only driver that won the European Championship in KZ and KF, that is in the two categories with and without the shift. In this season Max Verstappen already won the European CIK-FIA championship in KZ, then the KZ1 title of WSK Euro Series and the KZ2's one in WSK Master Series. A clean path, unquestionable that highlights also the performance of a winning chassis like CRG in all categories.

TEAM VICTORY

Max Verstappen on CRG-Tm obtained in Ortona the European title thanks to the second place in the last round of the European KF Championship after ending third in the season opener in Alcaniz (Spain). This has been a teams victory, built together with the other 3 CRG works drivers, Jordon Lennox-Lamb, Felice Tiene and Alex Palou, that closed ranks on the result to achieve, i.e. Max's win as the young Dutch driver was the bigger contender to the tilte. Everyone has been really competitive and has been a protagonist.

Felice Tiene was also among the title contenders, on CRG-Parilla, fifth in Alcaniz after a stunning recover, but in Ortona the Italian driver missed that little bit of speed that he found in Spain, managing nevertheless to slide in the leading pack fighting as a lion. Tiene ended second in his Pre-final, behind the winner Verstappen, while in the Final he obtained a sixth place that was later on promoted to a fifth.

Jordon Lennox-Lamb, on CRG-Bmb, followed Max Verstappen until the finish line, obtaining the third place of the podium behind the team mate and the Final winner, Valentin Moineault, but he was cut out of the games as was forced to give up in Alcaniz due to a technical problem. Later on in the evening Lennox, after tasting the joy of podium, had to give back the cup due to a 10 seconds penalty issued by stewards due to a contact with Alcaniz winner Nicklas Nielsen at the start of the Final. Race direction tagged the penalty as “bad manouvre”. That was a real pity as Lennox, KZ2 World Champion last year, in this weekend has always been among the best.

Very good performance also for the fourth CRG driver, the Spaniard Alex Palou, on CRG-Parilla, who has been quick and constant also in his pre-Final where he ended fifth at the back of Lennox. In the Final he finished in a good P10 that was later on promoted to ninth place in consequence of
Lennox's penalty.

DIONISIOS VERY QUICK IN KF JUNIOR. Excellent performance also by Marcu Dionisios in KF Junior, as he managed to be back the very quick driver we all know. He had to face a few difficulties in the heats but managed then to qualify for his Pre-Final in P13 and then to take part in the Final from the twenty-sixth place on the grid. The Romanian driver in force at CRG put in a great recover and gained the tenth position but with 4 laps to go he was involved in an incident with two rivals and finished is race right there. That was a pity as he was all set to a good result.

SUNDAY QUOTES

Euan Jeffery, team manager CRG: “Another European Championship for Max Verstappen, its incredible! This weekend has been really tough as all the drivers competing in Ortona were very close with each other with very small gaps. Max put himself across with all his qualities and the competitiveness of our chassis, he was always in front. In the Final he led until the end but then, decided not to risk any contact and preferred to give away P1 while getting a second place granting him the European title. This is quite remarkable as, despite his young age, he is using all the experience gained in these karting years. We would have celebrated Lennox on the podium too but unfortunately he has been penalyzed for a contact at the start. All CRG drivers run a great race though on different engines: Verstappen on Tm engine, Lennox on Bmb, Felice Tiene and Alex Palou with Iame. In KF Junior Marcu Dionisios did a stunning race but was then stopped by an incident. For him it is important to gain experience. We are now all set to face a very important second half of the season, starting from the KF World Championship in UK next 1 September. We will go back to work soon to prepare this event.”

Max Verstappen: “In this season I won everything so far, it couldn't be better. It feels fantastic. In Ortona every time we were consistent, maybe not the fastest but people made mistakes and I just stayed out of trouble and in front. I would like to thank everybody for their hard working, TM for the fantastic job they have done and I am really happy for them. CRG is like a second home for me, they are always very nice and when you have an idea you can try, they won't stop you. I like that and its a lot of fun. Next time we will be competing in the World Championship in KF, we will do our best and see what we can do. About next year? I will race in the European and World Cup karting and I will start with a lot of testing in Formula Renault".

Felice Tiene: “I lacked a bit of speed to get on the podium but I am happy on the team's result. Before the Final we decided that single results were not important but CRG result was instead and this happened with Verstappen's title. Now we hope to find that speed we need from the engine. On a circuit like Alcaniz the chassis made the difference and it worked well here too but we just missed a bit more push from the engine. Let's see what we can do about it.”

Jordon Lennox-Lamb: “I am sorry on having to renounce to the third place but what is important in the end result, that is the European Championship won by CRG. As regarding my contact with Nielsen I can only say that I am sorry but at the end of the long straight a lot of drivers were confined in a short space. He was on the outside and while we were going through the right hander I realized I slightly touched him. These things happen in such tight races when a lot of drivers want to get the most out of turn one.”

Max Verstappen's achievements (with CRG from 2010):
2013 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CIK-FIA KF
2013 WSK MASTER SERIES KZ2
2013 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CIK-FIA KZ
2013 WSK EURO SERIES KZ1
2013 WINTER CUP SOUTH GARDA KF2
2012 WORLD CUP KF2 (2.)
2012 WINTER CUP SOUTH GARDA KF2
2012 WSK MASTER SERIES KF2
2011 WSK EURO SERIES KF3
2011 WINTER CUP SOUTH GARDA KF3 (2.)
2010 WSK NATIONS CUP KF3
2010 WSK WORLD SERIES KF3
2010 WSK EURO SERIES KF3
2010 WINTER CUP SOUTH GARDA KF3 (2.)
2010 BRIDGESTONE CUP EUROPE KF3
2010 WORLD CUP KF3 (2.)
2009 CHAMPIONSHIP KF5 BELGIUM
2009 KARTING SERIES MINI MAX BENELUX
2009 ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE MINI MAX BELGIUM
2008 CHAMPIONSHIP CADET BELGIUM
2008 KARTING SERIES MINI MAX BENELUX
2008 ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE MINI MAX BELGIUM
2007 ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE MINI MAX BELGIUM
2007 ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE MINI MAX HOLLAND
2006 CHAMPIONSHIP MINI BELGIUM
2005 CHAMPIONSHIP MINI BELGIUM

All results of the weekend will be available at www.cikfia.com and www.cikfiachampionship.com


CIK FIA European Championship – KF
1. Verstappen (CRG-Tm) points 36; 2. Moineault (ART GP-Tm) 29; 3. Sorensen (Tony Kart-Vortex) 29; 4. Basz (Tony Kart-Vortex); 5. Nielsen (Kosmic-Vortex); 6. Boccolacci (Energy-Tm); 7. Tiene (CRG-Parilla); 8. Convers (Kosmic-Vortex); 9. Nylund (Kosmic-Vortex); 10. Palou (CRG-Parilla); ... 21. Lennox-Lamb (CRGBmb).