Marked by more experience, but big racing bad luck.
This time the track in Lonato, Italy.
For the next race of the 2023 season, Max will be driving in the OK class on an IPK chassis and with engines from Macháč Motors under the guidance of Marek Skřivan.
After the previous race, Max took two days off to prepare the new IPK chassis and all the necessary equipment for the upcoming race. The preparations were done on Monday and Tuesday together with the mechanic.
Wednesday and Thursday
Wednesday and Thursday saw a flurry of free practice sessions to set up and test the new chassis.
The results were excellent and Max and the mechanics did a great job. The team was very happy.
Friday
Friday was already marked by official and timed practice. With many strong teams taking part, such as Tony Kart and Ricky Flynn Motorsport, the competition was great and it was not as easy as the previous race. The loss to the fastest in official practice was 0.525 seconds, which meant 20th position in free practice.
The official practice, with a gap of 0.491 seconds from the fastest, was enough to finish 19th in the group and 37th overall out of 55 registered drivers.
Saturday
Saturday started with a morning warm-up, during which Max tested the capabilities of his equipment and ended with the 17th fastest time.
The atmosphere was good and Max couldn’t wait to start the first Eliminator heat A-B.
Based on the times from the official practice, Max was placed in Group A and started from row 10.
The schedule only allowed him to complete one qualifying round on Saturday. After the start he was up to 14th place, but unfortunately his front bumper was damaged from the start and this negatively affected the car’s functionality. Max complained about the problem after the race and had to deal with it bravely. In the end, he finished the race in 20th place after being given a penalty.
Sunday
The morning warm-up started with Max getting a 17th time. It was such a warm up before the race on a frosty morning and the gap to the fastest man was slim.
Next up was another Eliminator A-C qualifying race, where Max tried to push his way up and climbed from 19th place to 12th after some tough battles. When he reached the finish we were all surprised as he again had a damaged front bumper which meant a +5,000 penalty and he was eventually classified 24th.
After repairing the necessary components and checking the equipment and data, the next qualifying race was the Eliminator Heat A-D. Max battled and pulled through from 19th place at the start to 16th place. Unfortunately, this time with a front bumper coming off again, which meant a +5,000 penalty and a final classification of 20th.
Despite all the problems with the dropped bumper in the previous races, Max was lucky to make it through to the Pre Final where he started from row 12.
Max fought his way up from 17th on the grid during the Pre Final and finished the race in that position.
Unfortunately he was again penalised for a front bumper drop, the third time during the weekend. This meant that he was classified 46th overall with no chance of taking part in the Super Final.
With a weekend full of bad bumpers behind us, we now move on to testing and preparing for the next race at a nearby circuit, WSK SUPER MASTER SERIES ROUND 2.
Our gratitude goes out to all the partners without whom the participation would not have been possible, and of course to the team of mechanics and the Macháč Motors family, as the engines once again went like clockwork.
