Archive for category Algemeen

15/3/15: Flandria’s 2015 season Kicks Off with a win!

Mathias Detige victorious in BNL Karting Series Kick Off event

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Over 100 drivers participated in the inaugural 2015 Rotax Max event at Karting Genk last weekend.
Saturday’s free practice sessions were all run on a dry track. By Sunday morning however, some light showers meant everyone had to go out on rain tires for their Qualification runs.
For Flandria’s Mathias Detige this yielded a P5 starting position in DD2 class. Fellow Flandria driver Haralds Garkaklis qualified in P8.
The track was dry when the 24 DD2 drivers got underway for their first Final in the afternoon.
Mathias had a good start and was able to slot into 4th position by turn one. In just two laps he stormed to the lead of the race passing recent Campillos Winter Cup winner Ferenc Kancsar.
Mathias won the race by almost 5 seconds to Kanscar with Haralds Garkaklis securing a well deserved third place after a storming drive also.
Having won the first Final, Mathias started the second Final from Pole position. His start was excellent and he was able to pull away from Kancsar and Garkaklis in the opening stages of the race. RSC Competition’s Marcel Schirmer was the man on the move however, lapping 2 or 3 tenths of a second faster than the leaders. Schirmer picked up places lap by lap and took the lead after 8 laps.
Mathias was able to stay close to Schirmer and seemed to be waiting for the right moment to retake the lead. But Kanscar, still running a close third, dived down the inside of Mathias at the end of the main straight, with just 3 laps to go. Mathias was able to reclaim second place a lap later but by that time Schirmer was too far up to road and the German won the second race. Garkaklis pulled off a late move on Kanscar as well and claimed P3 in the final lap.
A first and a second place secured a well deserved Event Win for Mathias, with Schirmer 2nd and Kancsar 3rd overall. Garkaklis was fourth overall.

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31/8/14 BNL Karting Series Genk

P4 for Mathias on race return with Flandria Competition Kart

After 4 months away from the karting tracks Mathias Detige joined Flandria Competition Kart to participate in the final round of the 2014 BNL Karting Series. Having missed the previous round in Ostricourt, the 2013 BNL DD2 Champion was out of contention for the 2014 championship. Nevertheless Mathias and Flandria Team boss Kristof  Dehert were targeting a strong performance at the Genk track. During the Friday free practice sessions Mathias immediately felt at ease in the Flandria Kart.

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24/11 Supernationals Las Vegas – Mathias 7th

Strong showing in practice. Great recovery drive in Final.

A week after finishing 6th at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in New Orleans, Mathias and Kobe were reunited with their familiar MS Kart Blue Falcon chassis after arriving in Las Vegas to participate in the 17th Supernationals.
This year, organizer Superkarts USA added the Rotax DD2 category to its world famous event for the first time.
The entry list of 44 DD2 drivers featured several high profile names such as 4 time Indy Car champ and former Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Sebastien Bourdais. Ex-Renaul F1 driver Nelson Piquet and DTM-star Robert Wickens were also on the list. Intrepid factory driver Bas Lammers and Birel driver Paolo de Conto were surprise entries in the DD2 class. Rotax Euro Challenge drivers Adams, Backman, De Ruwe Lepesqueux, Ludi, Mukhin and Pullinger also made the trip to Arizona.

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16/11 New Orleans: Mathias mooi zesde op WK DD2

Mathias Detige, gesponsord door Sandhills General Trading en DF Aviation, heeft voor het derde jaar op rij een Top 10 finish gehaald tijdens de Rotax Max Grand Finals in de Rotax DD2 klasse. Daarmee was hij opnieuw de best presterende Belgische Rotax rijder op het WK.
Net als in 2011 leverde CRG het chassis voor de DD2 klasse en 72 rijders strijdden gedurende 3 dagen, op het Nola Motorsports Circuit nabij New Orleans, heftig om de 34 Finale plaatsen.
Na 2 testdagen reed Mathias op donderdag de 8ste chrono en hij was daar best tevreden mee. Zo kon hij zijn drie Qualification Heats telkens vanop de tweede rij starten. In alle drie de Heats nam hij geen risico’s en finishte hij respectievelijk P6, P4 en P5. In zijn laatste Heat reed hij de snelste rondetijd, dus de snelheid zat er goed in. In de Ranking na de Heats leverde dat een mooie 5e startplaats op voor de Pre-Finale van zaterdag. Enkele toppers als Cooper, Kanscar, Juodvirsis, Babington, Formal, Ouellette en ook De Ruwe kenden pech of gingen in de Heats in de fout en moesten verderop in het veld starten.
In de Pre-Finale was Mathias niet tevreden met zijn prestatie. Hij finishte op de 11e plaats. De snelheid van de voorgaande dagen was plots zoek en de Finale beloofde een zware race te worden.
In die Finale, over 20 ronden, viel de snelle Amerikaan Formal meteen uit. Vasiliauskas, indrukwekkend tijdens de Heats, en Cooper schakelden elkaar in de tweede ronde uit. Mathias bleef uit de herrie en schoof op naar P6. Enkele ronden later ging hij in één beweging van P6 naar P4. De Lithuaniër Simas Juodvirsis had de leiding, met enkele kartlengten voorsprong op de Amerikaan Wimsett en de Spanjaard Dalmau. Mathias vond de aansluiting met Wimsett en Dalmau net niet. De strijd was fel en Mathias moest 3 plaatsen prijsgeven en zakte zo terug naar P7. Wat later kon hij weer opklimmen naar P6 maar de kopgroep was weg en meer zat er niet meer in. Juodvirsis, in 2011 nog Europees Kampioen in de DD2, won onbedreigd. Kobe en Mathias mogen met hun zesde plaats toch terugblikken op alweer een geslaagd WK.

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8/9 Salbris: End of a difficult Euro Challenge campaign

Mathias finishes P13 from last row start. Ninth overall in 2013 DD2 Standings.

Arriving in the Salbris paddock on Tuesday morning, 2012 DD2 Euro Champ Mathias Detige was hoping to keep up the momentum after taking the BNL Karting Series title two weeks earlier at Genk.
The MS Kart driver showed good pace in Free Practice. But minutes before the green flag was waved for Group A’s Qualifying Practice, dark clouds appeared for the first rainfall of the event. Frenchman Alexandre Finkelstein (MD Competition-Tonykart) was the only driver going for a late switch to rain tyres and he ended 6 seconds clear of the fastest slick-shod drivers. Mathias finished 8th.

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