Göteborgs Stora Pris Race Report

​Another Rainy Day at the Office

The season has seemed to stall out after latest rounds of the SKCC which saw a dramatic engine failure and the discovery of a bent chassis in successive weeks to put a damper on the progress made in the first half of the season. The team has started to look towards development of the 2022 racing machine and seeing out the current season has been the order of the day.

However, with 4 major events left, there is still all to race for and the team will be continuing to do their all with the equipment and resources they have available to them for the remainder of this season.

And so it was that we arrived in Gothenburg at the Team 13 Motorpark on a late summer morning bright and early as the predicted rain just began to fall. It was going to be the first race of the season where wet tires had to be employed, and the lack of experience even testing in the wet showed for our young rookie as he went out for the 2 free practice sessions.

In a 23 kart strong field in the Formula Mini class, we were 19th and 20th, respectively, in the FP sessions, just not coming to grips with the lack thereof out on the track. An array of setup changes didn’t seem to have a significant effect on matters, and the old, hard rain tires were not helping matters either.

...there was just too much of a gap in single lap pace to really take the fight up the field...

​Into qualifying the rain intensified and it was a properly wet track going out of the pre-grid area. Early laps saw Deven up into the higher midfield briefly as he set his best time early in the session, but then couldn’t manage to improve upon it, spinning into the first hairpin and clipping the rumble strip curbs - clipping off his drive chain in the process and ending his session prematurely. This saw him plummet down the rankings and into 21st by the end of qualifying.

So another frustrating qualifying session, which has been an unfortunate theme this season, saw the team looking at another tough uphill battle in the qualifying sprint  heats to climb the grid for the semi-final race to come.

Sprint 1 saw our man drive a clean if uneventful race where he struggled to make any headway after a decent start where he was able to hold position. The 6 lap wet race ended with a 19th place finish after penalties and a DNF in the field.

Sprint 2 was a similar story, but this time out start was stronger, with Deven climbing 3 places into the first hairpin and able to hold 2 of those positions through the first lap. Lacking an real pace in the conditions, he fought his way to 17th after several drivers were not able to keep their karts on track, and along with penalty assessments, etc, the official result was 17th.

But there was just too much of a gap in single lap pace to really take the fight up the field, and it was defensive racing that was the name of the day for the inexperienced man, who just wasn’t on form on the day.

​Interestingly, the weather began to turn during the lunch break, and by the time the semi-final came around, there was a hard decision to make. All the karts came to the pre-grid area with rain tires bolted on, but the Formula Micro race going on just ahead of the semi-final showed that slicks were the way to go. The sun had come and the racing line was almost completely dry.

So it was a scramble to the pits to fetch slicks and bolt them on right in the pre-grid, just in time for the green flag by the marshals to release the field for the formation lap. All but one team sent out their driver with the dry slick tires, and it proved to be the correct decision.

Lap times plummeted by 7s on the dry tire, and the lone man out on track with the wets on was unfortunately left in the dust. For Grabko GP it meant just being able to cling onto the rear of the final pack of karts as Deven effectively limped home to a 20th place finish after the 8 lap race. In a short interview before the Final, Deven expressed his frustrations. “I’m not feeling good right now, and am sad about it. I just don’t trust the kart today. I’m afraid its going to just come out from under me, and I still have the clutch explosion from Malmö in my head as well, it feels impossible for me to be at my best today.”

Nevertheless, he came into the Final race, lined up in the 2nd to last row, with determination etched upon his little boy face. Fear would not get the best of him on this day. Getting off the line well on the rolling start, he took a couple of positions in the long sweeping first corner. However, he lost out on the approach to the first hair pin on the following lap, getting out-braked a bit too easily and conceding positions as a result. The net result being that he finished where he started the race, in 20th spot.

It was a disappointing day for everyone involved, but in retrospect, things need to be put into perspective. It has been a long a grinding rookie season for both team and driver, and the expectation to be on top fighting form every weekend can be an overwhelming prospect for a young man at the tender age of 9 years old.

The Team Principal was there to defend his own. “Look, we’ve got a good young kid here who has done everything we’ve asked of him this season so far. That he’s had a bad weekend of form can’t really be put squarely on him either. We’ve let him down as a team more than he has us this year, and he has always supported us with a smile, and we are going to do the same. He’ll be back in fighting form before you know it, and we just need to concentrate on making sure he has everything he needs to focus on that and nothing else. We’ll be back for the KCV in Uddevalla next week, and then the final round of the SKCC after that. That’s our focus and then development of next year’s platform has to be in full focus.”

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