We also visited the Ferrari Museum and the memorial at the Imola circuit where Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna died in 1994 after a crash
with a concrete barrier during the San Marino Grand Prix at the Autodromo
Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy.
After 4 days of testing, the next two days were dedicated to preparing the machinery and another new frame. In addition, Tuesday involved an unplanned trip to the Vesuvius volcano with a climb, followed by lunch and a taste of authentic Neapolitan pizza.
Wednesday and Thursday
The official free practice sessions began after the starting field was completed and times started to be compared. Max was 0.865 seconds behind his fastest rival, which wasn’t bad to begin with, despite the fact that his ribs were sore from the battered course, which was in a completely different shape to last year.
Max already knew the track in Sarno near Naples from the previous year, when he was still racing in the OK Junior class, and he was looking forward to returning. However, during testing in the previous days he found that the track was completely different from last year and that it was very broken and made up of many patches. Perhaps it is worse than our Czech Písek or German Kerpen, where Max raced last season. That was a big disappointment for him.
Friday
There was one more official practice session in the morning, where the times were compared using the official timing system and not just the stopwatch in the hands of the mechanic. Here Max’s gap to his fastest rival was reduced to 0.764 seconds.
Then came the timed practice session and it was a surprise for Max and his mechanics as his rivals suddenly went about one second faster. Fortunately, Max was also able to pick up the pace and although he was still some way off the fastest man, he was able to close the gap.
The first Eliminatory Heat A-B was run in the afternoon. Max had a great start and moved up to 10th place, but unfortunately his opponent from the People’s Republic of China pushed him off the track during a maneuver, sending him to 11th place. Despite this, Max didn’t give up and managed to finish in 19th position, which was good enough for 17th place in Group A.
Saturday
On Saturday, the morning Warm Up was first, followed by another Eliminator Heat. Max drove in this part of the race in Group A.
Max finished Eliminator Heat A-C in 19th place after a penalty for a dropped front bumper. He then finished the Eliminatory Heat A-D in 14th place, where he was certainly deserving and satisfied after a great battle and two big crashes.
Sunday
Sunday morning saw the Warm UP followed by the start of PREFINAL A, where Max started from row 9. Thanks to penalty points from the previous days and a 35th place overall he was able to work his way up to a great 14th place.
After a successful PREFINAL B race, there was great joy in the team as it meant Max would be able to ride in the WSK final, a huge achievement for him in his first season.
Max started from 34th place and eventually finished in 25th place. Although he had a smile on his face, he was suffering from a lot of rib pain and said: „I’m glad I finished at all… It’s a big deal.“
A big thank you to all the partners without whom my participation would not have been possible, as well as to the mechanics and the Machac Motors family.
