2022 Gothenburg Grand Prix Race Report

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The races just keep coming, hard and fast! Marking the halfway point in our hectic 4 race September, the Team 13 Karting Circuit would again be our hosts. It was time for the 2022 Gothenburg Grand Prix, an annual event that attracts drivers from across Sweden, and the Formula Mini class was no exception.

It was a strong field full of drivers the team hasn't raced against previously, so it was going to be a good measure of our driver’s meddle, especially as we were looking to put up a better showing this time around than at the same track two weeks ago in the 4th round of the Kart Cup West. During that weekend, we had shown a notable lack of pace and the gap to the front was too large. We were looking to remedy that situation.

Practice Friday
Friday was a lost day in many respects. The team was only able to arrive at the track and get the paddock area setup complete in time for two runs in the afternoon before the track closed down for registration and technical inspection for the racing tomorrow.

On top of that, it had started to rain after lunch and by the time Deven got himself out on track it was very wet conditions. A few off track adventures into newly laid dirt in the runoff areas, meant to be planted grass but transformed into mud pits because of the rain, meant that more time was spent rinsing off and cleaning up the racing machine than driving it out on track.

​Not much time for analysis here, but Deven was able to study driver coach commentary from his 9th place finish in Malmö the previous week, so not all was lost.

​Race Day
The event had a slightly different format than what we are used to in the SKCC and KCV series the team runs in, with only a single practice warm up session before a 7min qualifying session. Then it would be two 8 lap sprint qualifying heats to determine the grid for a longer 10 lap Pre-Final race. The results from the Pre-Final would determine the starting grid for the 16 lap Feature Final.

Free Practice | 10 min | P12
The track was still damp from yesterday's afternoon and evening rain, as getting now into the very late reaches of Summer, the air was not as willing to evaporate up the water as it was only a few weeks ago. Autumn was coming, you could feel it. For the team this meant choosing between slicks and rain tires for practice. It was generally agreed throughout the paddock that slicks would be the tire for qualifying in mid-morning, so the team decided to go out on a scrubbed set of slicks for practice as well. This proved to be the wrong tire for practice, and the team forgot to install the transponder for this session as well, but the data showed a mid-pack finish in the mid 56s lap time range. This was over 6 seconds off the projected qualifying pole position time. 
​
Qualifying | 7 min | P13
With new slicks bolted on and the track drying out after good hard running in other clasees and about 90 minutes of morning sun, it was time to go out and show them what we had. It was good. Fighting for a top ten spot from the start it was clear that those timing their last laps right were going to benefit from the very best conditions. Track evolution was mega in this session, with time dropping by almost half a second per lap as the track dried out and gripped up. Unfortunately it looked like our driver, Deven, was too out of sync with the clock. Sure enough, he took the checkered flag almost first out of the group, missing out on another lap by only just several seconds. Still put in a time that started him 13th on the grid for the sprint races, but he was frustrated as he knew another lap would’ve put him up higher on the timing lists. Such was the pattern for our day, as would become apparent. We just weren’t going to get the little breaks going our way.

Sprint 1 | 8 Laps | P13 —> P12
Time for the first qualifying sprint then. Deven got off the pre-grid slowly as his engine took its time in equalizing out the air/fuel mix, but he was able to get into his proper starting position for the start, which he took very well, making it up to 8th position, gaining 5 places, before dropping back a spot before the end of lap 1. He held on to 9th position for most of the race, but it was tough, hard racing and he lost out near the end in back and forth battles, and then getting a less than ideal exit on the final corner of the final lap and losing a drag race to the finish by only 0.011s to cross the finish line in 12th spot. Not a bad race, and lucky not to get caught up in a turn one starting crash, so all in all an ok start to the day.

Sprint 2 | 8 Laps | P13 —> P16
This is where the day seemed to show what it had in store for us. The backup pull-start on the motor, which had been working flawlessly, suddenly had the string break off on the pre grid during the test start. The motor had started well with the main start battery as well all day, so the team was not too worried about this devlopment. However, they should have been. Sure enough, as the start your engine signal was given, the engine refused to turn over. It was panicked flashbacks to Växjö, SKCC Round 3 all over again. As the team rushed in to get the engine started it was the racing community who again came  to the rescue. Thanks to a concerted effort, the egine was started and the battery reconnected properly according to the technical regulations, and off Deven went. But we were a whole half a lap behind and even at full race pace there was no hope of catching up for the rolling start. There would be no extra formation lap this time to help us either. So, despite Deven’s best efforts, he was still coming around the last two corners when the rest of the field was taking the start. The full length of the start/finish straight behind, the Grabko GP racing machine came chargning down to the first corner, and was gaining on the field ahead fast. By the end of the first lap, our racing driver was caught up to the back of the field and going into turn one already passed the last placed kart. A frantic race ensued with Deven picking off place place, but there was always another ahead that took more time to get by. With 3 laps to go in the short sprint race, he had worked his way up to 16th place, but now had a 4 kart gaggle ahead of him. He got up to the back of this group with 2 laps to go but couldn’t make further headway even though the pace was there, and it ended up a 16th place finish.

Pre-Final | 10 Laps | P14 —> P12
Probably the best performance of the day for the young racer, but also the most frustrating. A gritty performance saw him get off the line well and place his kart in the right places during the hectic first lap start, and take a net two places for 12th going into the second lap. He settled into a good rhythm, catching those ahead and being patient for his moments and taking them well, moving up to 11th on lap 2 and 10th on lap 4. Then on lap 6 he made a move on the inside of the looping turn 7 taking advantage of two karts fighting ahead and was in 8th place cleanly going into the turn 8 hairpin. A misjudged late dive that the driver behind tried to pull out of at the last second saw him make contact with our left rear bumper and shunt Deven out off line into the marbles, losing grip and momentum. So tight was the racing that this cost Deven an incredible 6 places as he scrambled to regain his momentum and his focus. He was visibly frustrated, waving his hand in the air in protest at the unfair lunge and resulting contact. Trying to get his head back down, he only had 3 real laps to try and regain these positions. He stormed his way through to take back 2 places with clean hard passing moves to 12th, but then ran out of time to get back up to the next 3 kart he been ahead of before the incident. No subsequent penalties were given, and Deven felt very hard done by. It was hard for the team to get him back into a positive mindset for the Final, in which he would start 12th instead of the 9th spot he felt he earned and would have achieved otherwise.

Final | 16 Laps | P12 —> P13
The Final was a long 16 lap affair, so anything could happen, and it proceeded to do so, just not as we had hoped. The start went well, and Deven got himself on the inside line in the first corner,  but then a kart just 2 ahead in line went off on the inside into the grass. Deven was forced to take evasive action as the kart came back out on track right in his line of fire and spun. Deven took to the outside while the kart just ahead of him slammed into the spun vehicle and miraculously righted it perfectly, so the driver could continue. It was a very lucky break for his competitor but a very unlucky one for the team, as the righted kart continued on right in front of Deven who had no choice but to brake. He ended up back in 17th sport before they arrived to the first hairpin at turn 3. It was going to be an uphill battle now the rest of the way. Deven did his best to get his head down and refocus his efforts, and through the race was able to move forward in general, but it was no holds bard, no quarter given racing with back and forth seesaw battles throughout the midfield pack all the way up to the podium places. By lap 4 Deven was in the thick of it all. Having claimed 12th spot by lap 4, he would battle to move up and defend to keep his position off and on throughout the middle stint of the race, up to lap 10. He was then forced to concede 12th spot and then 2 laps later also 13th spot as well in similar circumstances where not being able to make a pass resulted in him getting passed himself in classic kart racing style. He crossed the line in 14th, and was classified 13th after a penalty ahead of him raised him up a spot.

Summary
Extremely tight and tough day of racing with paper thin margins separating a top 6 finish from a top 15 finish. A little bit of luck on a day in which the team showed much improved pace and was right up there on lap time pace with some of the fastest Formula Mini has to offer and we would have seen a different result - but it just wasn’t on the cards for our exuberant fledgling driver. Still, proud of the speed and the rise again, never say die attitude shown by both team and driver. It is encouraging going into the final rounds of both the Kart Cup West, and the South Sweden Kart Championship Cup - in the coming two weekends. It is going to be a thrill ride to see where we end in these series, where the battle for final position is extremely close, so make sure to stay tuned to our social media and YouTube accounts to keep up with all the action and results, you won’t want to miss these next couple of weeks!

We had an “almost” day today. We were there, and I was driving well, the kart was good. I am really angry about the Pre-Final, I know I would have come 8th (except for the contact from behind) and that would have changed our Final completed I feel. We would have been ahead of that start incident that put me back in the field, and I know I had the speed to be up there. I was a bit sloppy earlier in the sprints with racecraft, that’s on me, and in the Final I felt like it just didn’t happen, I couldn’t get myself in the positions to try and make overtakes, and it cost me late in the race. It was super fun racing though, just wish the result more reflected the speed we actually had today.”

​~ Deven Grabko, Race Driver

What can we say? Really strong field, probably one of the strongest we’ve raced against all season, and we showed that we were up for it. Just lacked that little last bit of experience and savvy to create our own luck, but otherwise we have to be pleased with how we performed out there. Especially given that we were basically nowhere when we were here just 2 weeks ago for the KCV race. Now we have to go and focus on the final round of the KCV series this coming weekend. It is going to be a nail biter and we really have to be on our game.”

​~ Dan Grabko, Team Principal

Grabko GP would like to thank its sponsors and partners, without whom we wouldn’t be able to compete at all:
Improx Customs | Profil #461 | The Techno Creatives | Dumpling X Sweden | Elevate: Bespoke IoT Platforms | Weret: Surf Watches from Sweden

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