Hawksworth takes second at Schumi’s home track

Jack Hawksworth completed his strong winter form by adding the runner-up laurels in the prestigious German Winter Cup to his impressive karting résumé – even if he admitted to having enjoyed a somewhat less-than-perfect weekend.

The young Bradford ace travelled to Kerpen in West Germany – the home circuit of none other than his racing hero, legendary seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher – on the back of an eye-catching performance there before Christmas that had seen him finish in fourth place on his maiden sighting of Schumi’s old stomping ground. This time around, he insisted, he intended to do even better – and he succeeded with some aplomb.

“The kart was very good in practice,” the recently-turned 17-year-old affirmed, “and we were very quick in both the dry and the wet. We knew that the set-up was good and we could see the big improvements that had been made since the last time we were there.”

After proving ‘stupidly quick’ in qualifying, Jack planted his PDB Racing Gillard mount on pole position in a competitive, 35-strong international KZ2 field, half a second quicker than anyone else. Though he would go on to triumph in the opening race, however, it would prove to be anything but a straightforward encounter…

“I knew I would have my work cut out,” he reflected. “I made a bad start and the karts behind were all over the back of me into turn one. I was tagged and I ended up slipping off the greasy surface and into the run-off. I managed to keep it running, though, and rejoined in 11th.

“From there I managed to quickly come through pack before taking the lead on lap nine. We were very fast, but unfortunately on lap 11 I touched a back-marker with my left front. That didn’t stop me from winning the first race, but it would ruin my chances in the coming two.”

A 1.5-second margin at the close nevertheless established Jack firmly as the man to beat, but collapsed bearings as a result of the earlier coming-together badly affected his kart’s handling, leaving the reigning British ICC Vice-Champion battling understeer for the whole of race two. Given that he slipped back to 16th place on the first lap and spun shortly afterwards, seventh position at the chequered flag could be considered something of a victory in itself.

With the offending bearings changed in time for the third and final outing, Jack overcame a poor start when he was boxed in by the drivers ahead of him – causing him to lose three places in the process – to recover to fifth position, despite enduring ‘shocking’ understeer woes once more. That left him third overall for the meeting and – taking into account his December performance – second outright behind Dutch KZ1 Champion Bas Lammers as he prepares for his summer European and WSK International Series campaigns to get underway.

“The positives to take away from the weekend had to be the pace we had found in the dry,” Jack asserted. “In practice we could go very quick, and I believe we were probably the quickest. That shows we are making good progress and by the first round of WSK should be fighting right at the front.”

Leave a Reply