Round 2 of the Champions of the Future Euro Series @ Zuera, 14-17 April 2022
Arthur Rogeon is actively pursuing his involvement at international level in the OK category. Easter weekend found him in Spain on the Zuera circuit for the second of the four events comprising the Champions of the Future Euro Series. The driver from Laval, disappointed at having messed up his timed practice session, quickly became the comeback king! In total, the young French hopeful gained no fewer than 50 places on his way through the heats to the final! But what was even more important was that he consistently set lap times that matched those of the fastest drivers. Arthur is hoping to confirm these promises with a standout result with the VDK Racing team in the forthcoming European Championship event on the Zuera circuit.
This season, a round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series precedes the four European Championship meetings. It provides ideal conditions for the drivers and their teams to prepare for these major milestones organised by FIA Karting. After Portugal, Rogeon and VDK Racing set off for the Zuera circuit in Spain near Zaragoza capital of the Aragon region. In the free sessions the team got through a lot of work and Arthur reckoned that he could break into the upper echelons of the field of more than 60 drivers.
“I didn’t manage my qualifying session well. I was never able to dial in a good lap at the moment when my tyres were at their best. I’ll have to remember this lesson as it put me in a difficult position for the rest of the competition,” he admitted. The result was that the VDK Racing team driver was relegated to 54th place. But he got the bit between his teeth and in the five qualifying heats as well as the Super Heat he made phenomenal comebacks gaining 10 even 12 places in the same race! And despite two penalties he made it into the 36 finalists.
“In the final I made a good start and I felt really comfortable behind the wheel of my KR-IAME. The performance of the IAME engines tuned by KVS on this fast track was really efficacious. I was lapping in the same tenth-of-a-second as my team-mate and several drivers in the top 10 and above all in consistent fashion from the first to the last lap. While some began to lose speed I was still capable of gaining places.” He finished in 24th position but was pushed back to 29th after a five-second penalty (front fairing not in the right position).
Arthur has now found his marks in the VDK Racing team and can’t wait to return to the Zuera circuit for the European Championship event in the week of the 1st May. In the meantime, he will have an opportunity to hone his physical fitness in the Simumotion training centre with his coach, Julien Abelli.
Photo by Arnau Vinals