Mathias Detige seals the Rotax DD2 title in Salbris!
Going into the 4th and final round of the 2012 Rotax Max Euro Challenge at Salbris (France), Mathias Detige had a comfortable points lead in the DD2 standings.
MPT-Racing’s Miika Laiho from Finland was the only driver mathematically still capable of beating Mathias in the championship, but needed to win the Pre-Final and Final to do so.
During Wednesday and Thursday testing, Mathias and his mechanic Kobe encountered some technical problems and didn’t really find a good set-up for their MS Kart.
2012 Canadian DD2-champion, Ben Cooper (Birel) set the pace throughout the Free Practice sessions.
But by the time of Qualifying Practice on Friday afternoon Mathias was right on it and he put in a very strong lap that secured second place for the start of the Heats, behind… Miika Laiho!
This meant the 2 championship contenders would start all 3 Saturday Qualification Heats from the front row, with Birel drivers Ben Cooper and Kevin Ludi immediately behind them.
Cooper came out the strongest in Heat 1, with Mathias playing it safe, taking no risks and finishing 4th, behind Laiho and De Ruwe.
Heat 2 saw Miika Laiho pushed into a spin by Cooper in turn 1, the Englishman later given a 10 seconds penalty by the stewards after review of that incident. Mathias was lucky to avoid the first corner tangle and went on to finish 4th again in Heat 2, won by Xen De Ruwe.
Cooper was fastest again in Heat 3, Mathias finishing 5th, complaining about the difficult handling of his kart. Later Team Leader Birger Bouvin decided an engine change was necessary for the Sunday Finals whilst the MS Kart mechanics Jirka and Michael gave Mathias and Kobe advise for a better set-up hoping to find that little bit of extra pace needed.
The ranking after the Heats saw Xen De Ruwe come out on top with Mathias taking second place, thanks to his consistent results. Ben Cooper was third and Laiho must not have felt too bad finishing the day 6th overall after his Heat 2 race was ruined by the “Cooper-spin”.
On Sunday, Mathias was 2nd quickest in the morning Warm-Up, that was a confidence boost. He knew that a good performance in the Pre-Final would be enough to seal the 2012 DD2 title, so Kobe bolted on his set of new tires, whilst Laiho surprisingly opted to keep his Saturday tires for the Pre-Final. Ben Cooper immediately took the lead in the Pre-Final with Laiho quickly moving up to second whilst Mathias was dicing with Dielissen and De Ruwe.
But when his new tires started working Mathias cautiously worked his way up to the front shadowing Miika Laiho until the last lap, knowing that third place was enough to clinch the title!
Tactics had worked out beautifully for Mathias as he crossed the line in P3 and as the new DD2 European champion!
Mathias was running fourth in the Final until the race was red-flagged, when Bozec Goulven crashed, but the Frenchman escaped any injury. Mathias decided to pull out of the race when the red flag came out, as the title was his already.
The Final was again won by a very strong Ben Cooper, with Miika Laiho finishing an excellent second which saw the Finnish Tonykart driver take the runner-up spot in the Championship. Xen De Ruwe secured third place in the Final and in the Championship.
