The 16 nations contesting Karting Endurance kicked off their FIA Motorsport Games competition with four free practice sessions at the Circuit Paul Ricard kart track throughout Friday.
For the teams, each featuring four drivers – both female and male – it was the first opportunity to run on the identical specification Tillotson T4 karts and get to grips with the circuit. For some, such as Team Bahamas, it was even their first ever experience of driving on a purpose built kart track.
With one session for each team’s four participants, Team Belgium (Maxime Drion, Jeremy Peclers, Sita Vanmeert and Antoine Morlet) claimed the top time in the first and last sessions of the day, and featured among the top three in all but one outing.
Team UK (Jack O’Neil, Mike Philippou, Owen Jenmad and Rhianna Kay Purcock) led the way in FP2 and featured in the top three in all four sessions, while Team Poland (Kornelia Olkucka, Jakub Rajski, Marcel Kuc and Adam Szydlowski) were fastest in FP3.
Ella Zammit, Nicky Gauci, Owen Mangion and Kyle Mercieca and Team Malta also featured well, with second fastest in FP1. Team Peru (Maria Jesus Esquivel, Harold Watson, Mark Harten and Taylor Greenfield) also showed promising form, clocking in third fastest in the second session.
Karting Endurance action resumes with qualifying practice at 09:30 tomorrow (Saturday) to set the grid for the four-hour race, which is scheduled to start at 11:30.