2003 CIK-FIA European Championship
Mariembourg, Belgium (Final rounds)
Report & Photograph: Mike Hayden
1 October 2003

The final countdown came to a head in Belgium, despite all the concerns at the start of the year following the abolition of the Formula Super A World Championship, in which David was due to take part. Nevertheless, with drivers who had previously raced in Formula Super A moving into Formula A, the level of competition remained as high as it ever was.  Arriving in Mariembourg, David was in 5th place in the European Championship with 45-points, which had all been collected from his last three Grands Prix, the last race in Finland, and the other two finals in Portugal. The Strawberry Racing driver had thus set the ball rolling with a 7th placed finish at the Alaharma track, before his double podium at Braga with a 2nd and 3rd placed finishes. With 25-points available for a race win, David was ready to add to his score and his early pace up to timed qualifying had been promising. The entry list remained strong with a total of 65 drivers, with tyre performance still very much on the minds of the competitors as Bridgestone, Vega and Dunlop fought for major honours. Bridgestone, as used by David, still had the upper-hand over Vega, although a number of Dunlop runners appeared to be very quick in the build-up to qualifying.  Concerns over tyre consistency were also heard from many of the teams. This was not to the extent of a driver getting an entire bad batch, since the method of tyre distribution suggested this was extremely unlikely, but claims of the odd “rogue” were much in evidence. Since as much as two seconds a lap were claimed as being lost in some camps, with the only variable having been a change of tyres, the concerns expressed may have had some validity. Timed qualifying ended with David 35th overall with a best lap of 54.820s. He was only fractionally slower than the Tonykart team leader who was in 31st place on 54.772s, so David was not too concerned, feeling that once the heats got underway matters would improve. Unfortunately David experienced problems in three of his heats, with only one heat allowing him to demonstrate how quick he could be when he finished in 6th place. Despite those three heat problems though, David still qualified for both of the main finals as he took grid 31 for race one (round 7). Although he started from so far down the grid, David’s pace was self-evident in the first final and he drove well to take the final point in 15th place, less than 15-seconds behind the winner, with a best lap of 55.149s. From grid 15 the second final held more promise until just after the halfway point, when David survived a hard hit from an unknown assailant at the turn 3 left-hander on lap 11. Unfortunately, he collected fellow Brit Ian Johnstone who retired on the spot, as David pressed for the finish with his damaged kart. “There’s not much you can do when somebody rams you,” he said after the race, “although it was a pity that Johnstone suffered because of that other driver.” David was therefore 23rd by the flag some 38s adrift of the winner, as he brought his battle-scarred kart back into the safety of the paddock. David left Belgium with 46-points and 7th place in the European Championship, but after having shown the pace to be a lot higher, early plans for 2004 are all ready taking shape. David feels that he has a point to prove. Click here for more photo's from the Mariembourg weekend!

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