There’s never a dull moment with Stefanos Charalambous as he progresses in his kart racing career!
As you’ll know if you follow these pages, Stef’s usual experiences are a promising practice day followed by eventful races. However, this weekend, this pattern was turned on its head, with the Friday practice proving to be the talking point of the weekend.
At the Paul Fletcher International circuit in Lincolnshire the wettest January on record in the UK continued into the start of February, but Stef tore round the track as if it was bone dry. However, as he started to really set the pace among the drivers, he suffered a major setback. Approaching the hairpin and braking from nearly 70 miles per hour, he hit a patch of standing water and careered into the tyre wall.
This major event halted the practice session and certainly shook up Stef. The rest of his practice was decidedly low key and clearly had an effect on his performances in Sunday’s racing.
In Time Qualifying, Stef raced within himself but still comfortably held his own to finish in second place, less than half a second behind the winner. In the second heat, starting in 2nd place, he found himself back in 6th, but soon forced his way up to second place, before being overtaken and finishing 3rd. Friday’s accident had clearly dented Stef’s confidence.
Starting in 3rd place on the grid in the Final, Stef again made his way up to second, and, for half a lap, actually took the lead before being pegged back to second.It was then nip and tuck throughout the race with his rival, with rarely more than 0.2 seconds between them as they left all the other racers a long way behind. If Stef had displayed his usual daring and flair, there was a chance that he might have seized a moment to take the lead. However, his attempts at this on the final lap came to nothing, and he had to settle for a second place finish.
So another podium placing for Stef, something that is now happening regularly, which is encouraging in itself. Moreover, despite Saturday’s mishap, Stef proved, in a race meeting which included all the top kart drivers, that he is more than capable of holding his own against the best.
Keep believing, Stef! That first win is within your grasp!