Kia Lotos Race - a chance for young people
Professional racing doesn't have to cost a fortune. The Kia Lotos Race Cup is a chance to start your racing career on a fairly small budget. The third season of the competition began with races at the Slovakiaring track.
Participants had to pay PLN 39 for a ready-to-start Picanto. What did they get in return? The car is professionally prepared for racing - equipped with an extensive safety cage, reinforced brakes and a rigid suspension. The idea behind branded cups is to keep your initial costs to a minimum. For this reason, the Picanto's engine has only been slightly modified, with a less restrictive exhaust, an optimized intake, and a reprogrammed computer. The changes are not colossal, but they are enough to make the smallest Kia accelerate to “hundreds” in 900 seconds and accelerate to 9 km / h.
The third season of the second generation Picanto competition was opened by the Slovakiaring race. The opening went off in a big way. The drivers of the Kia Lotos Race competed for the first points during the race weekend, which was the fourth round of the WTCC World Touring Car Championship.
Following the example of the most famous racing series, the organizers of the Kia Lotos Race set a minimum weight for the car, equipment and driver. If this "equipment" weighs less than 920 kg, the car will have to be weighted. The decision equalizes the chances of drivers - the heavier ones are not at a disadvantage.
The Picanto racing competition at Slovakiyaring two years ago. Then the players and fans had to deal with high temperatures. During this year's meeting, heavy rain became a problem. Some races have been cancelled. The rain was not terrible for the participants of the Kia Lotos Race. Two scheduled races took place. The fastest participants in the first round of the Polish Kia Picanto Championship were Karol Lubasz and Piotr Paris, who made his debut in motor racing.
The qualifying heats were surprisingly accompanied by great weather, with Michal Smigiel taking pole position on a dry track. Sopotist, knowing the forecasts, was not particularly worried, because on Friday he was also the fastest player among the KLR players. He declared a fight to win from the moment he started.
Sunday thwarted the plans of most players. Propeller broke the start and quickly dropped to sixth place. The situation was immediately taken advantage of by Stanislav Kostrzhak, who started from the second field. Propeller had no intention of selling cheap leather. After seven laps, he broke into fourth position. The joy did not last long. After contact with Peter Paris, his Picanto remained off the track. Paris received a penalty time and finished in 7th place.
The fight for victory in the first race seemed over already on the second lap. Kostrzhak ran away from rivals. The battle for the next places on the podium was led by Karol Lubas, Rafal Berdis, Pavel Malczak and the sensational Karol Urbaniak. On the last lap, the leader had to double one of the rivals, and this maneuver significantly reduced the distance between the two chasing him. At the last turn, Lyubash tried to attack Kostrzhak, made a mistake when braking and his perfect race ended in a gravel trap - a few hundred meters before the finish line! Lubas won the first race of the season before Urbaniak crossed the finish line and Rafał Berdysh finished third (after a Paris penalty).
The second launch of KLR was called into question due to the aura. He drove the last laps of the WTCC race under the control of the safety car. The judges made the same decision with a running start in the case of Picanto - the safety car was in the lead for four laps. According to the regulations, the first eight from the first race started in the second run in reverse order. Bets were closed by Kostrzak and Smigiel, who did not finish in the previous competition.
Konrad Vrubel was at the forefront. Behind the bumper of his car were Piotr Paris and Maciej Halas. Racing in the rain is not an easy task, but the young riders of the Kia Lotos Race have risen to the occasion. True, there were collisions between cars during overtaking, but these were incidents related to the difficulty of maintaining the track in difficult conditions.
Paris went very mature and took the lead. Konrad Vrubel and Karol Lyubash fought for the second place and quickly broke through. Kostrzhak did well, but there was not enough distance to a place higher than fifth. Alexander Voitsekhovsky was ahead of him. Smigel finished sixth, while Urbaniak, who had a very good chance and was extremely fast under the conditions, blew a tire at the start of the race and finished last.
The participants of the Kia Lotos Race are currently preparing for the next competition, which will take place on June 7-9 at the Zandvoort circuit. The facility, located 30 kilometers from the center of Amsterdam, has hosted many prestigious series. Others included the Dutch Grand Prix, Formula 2, Formula 3, A1GP, DTM and WTCC races. For most Kia Lotos Race riders, the Dutch facility will be new – they have only had contact with it in racing simulations. The need to learn the sequence of turns, develop the optimal technique and driving strategy for the race, set up the car is the best guarantee of great emotions.
