Hawksworth shines at Schumi’s stomping ground

Jack Hawksworth got to live out one of his lifetime ambitions when he took to the track for the prestigious German Winter Cup at Kerpen – by competing at the same venue that first launched his racing idol, Michael Schumacher, on the fast track to Formula 1 superstardom.

The Bradford ace travelled to the West German circuit admittedly not quite knowing what to expect, and with rain throughout practice and extra-grippy tyres to get to, well, grips with, there was certainly a lot to take in.

“Kerpen is like most European tracks,” Jack explained, “very fast and flowing with sweeping bends, hard-braking zones, chassis-breaking kerbs, a good layout and good facilities. There’s obviously also a lot of heritage there, and it was good to be racing at the same place where the driver I used to watch for so many years once raced at.

“The ICC is the most powerful short-circuit kart and it was immensely hard to hold onto the thing around there, but they are stunning to both drive and watch. I still don’t think I had fully got to grips with it even by the end of the weekend, but I was building up my confidence with every single session. On the first day we were really quick, got quite a lot done and I certainly learned a lot.”

Indeed, the 16-year-old handed himself a welcome confidence boost by lapping quickest of all 32 drivers present in a soaking wet morning practice session, ahead of rivals of the calibre of former Formula A star and current Dutch KZ1 Champion Bas Lammers. Clearly on-form and pumped up for the big occasion, he would go on to qualify a superb second on the starting grid, behind only KZ2 European Vice-Champion Rick Dreezen.

In the opening encounter, half of the field went out on slicks and the other half on wets, but with the changeable conditions favouring the former, Jack could do little but fight an impressive rearguard action to come home as the leading wet-shod driver, and seventh overall. Fifth place in heat two was followed up by fourth in the final outing, securing the British ICC Championship runner-up a highly praiseworthy fourth spot outright

“I was really pleased,” he enthused, “especially as I’d never raced against competition as hard as that before and given my lack of experience on both the tyres and European circuits. I think the KZ classes are the hardest in Europe by far – it’s not like driving a Rotax kart or a KF, where you just have the sticky tyres to deal with.

“Driving one of these things is just as much of a physical challenge as a mental challenge because there’s a lot more power and weight to handle. Kerpen is quite a bumpy track too, and I really enjoyed pushing the kart and the tyres to the limit. To come fourth in my first meeting up against those guys made me really proud – I couldn’t have asked for a better result.”
As to that extra physical aspect of the KZ classes – with assaults planned on both the KZ2 European Championship and WSK International Series with PDB in 2008 – Jack admitted he would have a bit more work to do on his fitness over the winter months, but the future is undeniably looking bright for a driver bidding to follow in his hero’s wheeltracks.

“I do quite a lot of training as it is,” he affirmed, “but to last the distance next year will require even more effort – I was knackered after the races! We’re going to drop KF1, because it’s just chequebook racing at the moment and all about who can buy the best engine. It costs so much money to compete up at the front there, whereas in KZ you’ve got to have the complete package of driver, chassis and engine.

“It was a real eye-opener for me at Kerpen to race against some of Europe’s best, but it was a great end to what has been a bit of an up-and-down season. This was always going to be a learning year for me, and I now believe everything is in place for me to challenge for the KZ2 European Championship and KZ2 WSK Championship.

“There is a lot of work to be done, but I am sure we will be fighting come the first round. I would like to thank everyone for supporting me this year, and I look forward to a successful 2008 season with PDB Racing and Gillard Racing karts – and hopefully a lot of wins!”

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