A Strong-Willed Victory
Nyck De Vries achieved this new WSK success, in KF3, with the strength
of will, the determination and the talent that are his best known
features, but also with the help of his team, which blended the best
ingredients and found the winning setup for this driver. The Dutch
kartman took his chance and achieved a very good result with a view to
the provisional ranking of the WSK (of which he is title holder).
Pursuit of perfection: this is exactly what Nyck and his team aim to
every time they line up at a race, in order to find the best possible
conditions to try to win. And in Italy, on 4 and 5 April 2009, on the
track of Castelletto di Bran- duzzo, which hosted the third WSK (Winning
Series Karting) round, Nyck never lost focus despite the very tough
competition, at the wheel of the Zanardi-Par- illa from the Chiesa Corse
Team.
"During free practice, I immediately felt that this race would be very
hard fought, but I was determined to do my best to the end to achieve a
victory", the determined Dutch driver declared. As expected, the battle
started already during official qualifying, with very narrow time gaps
between the fastest drivers. "The timed session was perfect. I set the
third time and I ran just four 100th/sec. short of the pole. I was
very satisfied with the equipment, which had already proved to be very
reliable 15 days ago, at the Trofeo Andrea Margutti, where I finished
second".
That day, Nyck and his team had already collected some excellent
technical informa- tion about the equipment, but it was during the four
qualifying heats that they man- aged to optimise their Zanardi-Parilla
with a view to the final phase. "I finished the heats in 2nd, 1st, 7th
and 3rd place respectively and I posted the best lap twice, which was
really encouraging. Unfortunately I received a three-second penalty
for moving from my line at a start, and it was for this reason that I
ended 7th in one of the heats". Nyck was therefore 3rd on the pre-final
start grid and had a fast and regular race. "There was a collision at
the start, which I managed to avoid by a narrow margin, but it cost me
two places. I got closer to the leading pack and I finally recovered
my third place". But in his heart, Nyck was not fully satisfied with
this result. "Together with the team, we analysed the situation before
the final. Dino Chiesa, my team manager, realised that I lost speed in
certain parts of the track. So he decided to modify a kart parameter and
that led to good results".
Fourth after the first bend, the 2008 German Champion went to the
offensive. Nyck passed the three race leaders Kvyat, Marciello and
Sainz, with precision and confi- dence. The end of the race was intense,
and Nyck was put under pressure by the son of the Rally World Champion.
But the Dutch driver stood firm and gained one of his most beautiful
victories at international level. "It was a very exciting race, with no
room for mis- takes; I had to pass differents drivers and go as fast as
I could at each lap, but I also had to keep a regular pace. This victory
was indeed a team victory and I would like to thank Dino Chiesa and Iame
for their precious help". After this second major victory in 2009, Nyck
has con- solidated his second place in the WSK provisional ranking and
has reduced the gap that separates him from the leader.
Belgian Championship at Genk in order to get ready for the European
Championship debut and German Champi- onship: these are the rendezvous
for young Nyck De Vries over the next few weeks.
-credit: ndv
