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Another two wins for Grice at Liedolsheim
Tom Grice’s German Junior Championship run appears to be unstoppable after yet another pair of wins, but this time the PDB Gillard driver was pushed all the way as he took both the Sprint and Final races. As one of the most competitive national championships in Europe, the race at Liedolsheim saw entries from 42 racers.
To start the weekend he qualified on pole, 0.01 seconds ahead of his closest rival, Riccardo Brutschin (CRG), in the wet. By the first qualifying heat the track was drying so Grice took a gamble, went out on slicks and spun on the first lap. But in the difficult conditions he came through the field “like a hot knife through butter”, according to the German media, and was second only to Kevin Illgen (CRG). By the second heat the track was dry and he had no trouble winning to take pole again for the Sprint race.
As soon as the lights went out there was a five-way battle for the lead, until lap five when an overtaking move from Illgen didn’t quite come off. Seven following karts crashed into Illgen or went off avoiding him, but Grice evaded the chaos and was able to take a commanding lead by half distance to give him the win.
Two accidents leading race stoppages in the all-important Final complicated matters for Grice - he was unscathed in the first but was then fired off in the restart in an incident that led to the next red flag. His team, led by star race engineer Mark Rose, had just three minutes to repair the kart and get him back on track.
He was again able to establish himself in the lead but fellow Gillard driver Rene Binder was almost his equal in this race. The German stuck tight to Grice’s bumper throughout, taking the chequered flag about two inches behind Grice. The two had almost identical laptimes during the race, underlining the skill the Essex teenager needed to come out on top this weekend.
Grice is testing this week at Essay, France, in preparation for the European Championship in mid July but first he has the next round of the German Championship, held at Michael Schumacher’s circuit at Kerpen.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:06 am