#ben barnicoat

[russilton]

If you don't mind, what happened to Ben Barnicoat?

So, you’ll have to forgive me if I make any mistakes, because outside of occasional mentions, I’ve never known much about ben because my foray into endurance racing is very new, and most of my knowledge has come from sourcing for this ask. I wasnt watching junior formula series when ben was racing, but the short summary is that his story is near identical to George’s as I discussed here, only unlike George, it did effectively end his career in single seaters.

By all accounts from the articles I read on Autosport, Formula Scout, and racer, Ben was a well regarded up and coming talent in the junior series, with a very impressive karting record and his early single seaters entries following that pattern. PREMA was considered to be the best possible team for him to join for his European F3 run, and after he tested with them early, they seemed really really happy to have him. It seemed from what I read, to be a done deal, and Ben would partner Lance and another driver for the 2016 season. Then, surprise, with a couple weeks or so to go before the season began, Ben was dropped from PREMA out of nowhere and suddenly announced a move to newer team Hitech GP to partner- wouldn’t you know it, George Russell. Here’s freshly 18 year old George and 19 year old Ben in 2016.

Now ill say upfront, unlike George’s case, in my quick search I didnt find explicit proof it was Lawrence, and Ben himself said he wasnt sure and couldn’t presume how he lost his seat— but given that its an identical situation to George, two years after George lost his seat, and the seat Ben was set for WAS to directly partner Lance— its a pretty foregone conclusion that Lawrence likely had a sudden say in his sons teammates. This bbc article also implies Lawrence was putting quite a lot of money into lances appointments, including buying him a seat as a test driver in Williams in 2016. Lance went on to partner Nick Cassidy and Maximilian Günther (yes both of fe fame) and Ralf Aron, who tested alongside Barnicoat and seemed to be considered the weaker driver of the two.

According to this feeder series comment (which yes, is not a strong source, but does go into a lot of detail around lance), both Aron and Cassidy were considered good drivers, but less strong than Russell and Barnicoat. This is also the same year that George went on to publicly criticise Lance for receiving team orders to benefit him at the detriment of Cassidy, and from all the accounts I’m sifting through, Lawrence put obscene amounts into PREMA that year, like buying them a new sim, and moving f2 engineers to f3 instead- to the point many competing teams outright pulled out. This article does a good job covering the issues people had with Lance’s junior career and also has Lance quoted as comparing buying a team to buying a tennis racket.. do with that as you will

I’m guessing based on the fact that George mentions ben in his comment, the pair of them had gone from being competitors to having a sudden common ground at hitech. Either way, George had an okay season at hitech, but ben struggled quite severely, and he credits it to the end of his single seating career. Despite the fact PREMA won almost all of the races that year, 9th is a hard number to have on your record, and in the end Barnicoat Single seater career ended at hitech as he made the move to endurance racing .

This excerpt comes from this article that puts the whole situation more succinctly than I can- Ben had other issues relating to the dissolving of the McLaren young driver program— but that 2016 season is what he thinks put the nail in the coffin.

Ben does seem to be doing pretty well in endurance, hes won a couple titles in IMSA and Asian Lemans, but it’s a shame his single seater career ended the way it did.

#asks #saviour-of-lord #ben Barnicoat #mark’s driver meta #fun fact- i had a meeting in the middle of writing this #and doing my due research #and accidentally sent my boss a link to a fuckin 2014 autosport article about George #rather than the gdrive link i meant to #WHOOPS #she found it funny at least #anti stroll

[catbirdseat]

compilation of belle isle fountain celebrations so you never forget what they took from us!!

#belle isle is genuinely my fav street circuit #anyways #indycar #ryan hunter reay #marcus ericsson #scott dixon #pato o'ward #josef newgarden #kyle kirkwood #ben barnicoat

[chibrary]

Some at the team knew he was the man for the job, but Charles Leclerc's procurement of a seat relied on a neat bit of manoeuvring in order for their boss to agree to a deal.

We're not talking here about the delay that followed Sergio Marchionne's death before Leclerc gained a 2019 Ferrari Formula 1 drive, rather his maiden season of car racing in the '14 Formula Renault ALPS series.

Fortec Motorsport engineer Martin Young knew all about the talents of the 16-year-old Monegasque driver.

"My background is in karting," he explains. "I used to work for the factory teams in Italy. I knew the drivers to watch from karting would be Max Verstappen, Ben Barnicoat and Charles Leclerc, and Fortec wanted to run teams in Eurocup, NEC and ALPS."

It's worth explaining here that in those days Formula Renault 2.0 operated as a pyramid structure, with the Eurocup at the top, and the Dutch-promoted Northern European Cup and Italian-run ALPS series as the base. Fortec was already established in Eurocup and NEC, but was venturing into ALPS for the first time.

"At the time it looked like Verstappen would be doing Eurocup, and we had Ben signed for NEC," continues Young. "I spoke to Jamie Dye [Fortec managing director] and said that if we wanted to move forward in ALPS we needed to get Leclerc.

"We did a test day at Motorland [Aragon] and we sort of lied about his times - we'd put Charles up against a lot of experienced drivers, so he was 1.2-1.3 seconds off - so that Richard [Dutton, team principal] would stay interested in giving him a bit of a deal. Richard was asking, 'Is he really good?', and we said, 'Yeah, we know he's really good.'"

Barnicoat, now a factory McLaren GT racer, was already familiar with Leclerc - as a Racing Steps Foundation protege, he was part of the ART Grand Prix line-up in international karting in 2012 and '13, while Leclerc belonged (and still does) to the All Road Management stable of ART shareholder Nicolas Todt.

"I had two years as team-mate to him in karting," says Barnicoat. "The first year I was directly racing with him, and in the second he went into gearbox [KZ] karts. He was one of the best team-mates I ever had, if not the best. A great guy.

"That first year, Charles won the WSK series and I won the European championship - that was up against the likes of Verstappen, so the competition was extremely high. I feel sort of left out!

"He had a bit more track knowledge so in the first half of the year he was beating me, but then we pushed each other really hard and that worked for the team - we got a lot from that.

"Looking at how good he is, it's nice to know I beat him on occasions, to know that I had the talent and ability to do that."

Fortec was one of the teams that tested Verstappen, and was also eyeing a deal with another talented karter: George Russell, whose plan was to combine Renault ALPS with what was then BRDC Formula 4.

Russell, who now is on course to succeed Leclerc as Formula 2 champion, eventually joined Prema Powerteam for ALPS, but that deal fell over on the eve of the season and he secured a last-minute berth at Koiranen GP.

"We wanted George; we tried to sign him," says Dutton of what could have been a mighty line-up had Russell joined Leclerc. "But he signed for Prema and then [Lawrence] Stroll [who had taken a majority shareholding in Prema] stopped him from going there."

"Me and Charles were testing for Fortec," says Russell, "and at the same time Verstappen was there with Josef Kaufmann Racing, I think. We were in talks with Fortec, but we decided to sign with Prema."

When it's pointed out what a mega line-up that would have been alongside Leclerc, Russell laughs: "In hindsight that could have worked out better for me than Koiranen. That [the late Prema split] put us in the shit a little bit, and three weeks before the first race I didn't have a deal. We took the gamble on Koiranen."

Autosport reminds Dutton of an awards evening over the 2013-14 winter when, asked about Russell, he said: "We've got someone even better - a lad from Monaco..."

"It was really quite a late deal," recalls Dutton. "He missed most of the winter-test programme. But you just knew he was the real deal. In and out of the car he knew what he wanted. In lots of ways he reminded us of Verstappen when we tested him."

Young confirms that the sum total of Leclerc's pre-season mileage was four days at Aragon, and two at Barcelona, before going straight into the pre-weekend test for the Imola opener.

"The first three race weekends his experience was a bit low," says Young, "but as soon as he got on the podium he was there every weekend.

Leclerc went on to finish runner-up to the flying - and experienced - Nyck de Vries in the ALPS points, with two race wins at Monza under his belt, but perhaps the more impressive performances came in his three 'wildcard' outings in the Eurocup. The first was at Spa, one week before the Belgian track's ALPS round.

"He was 30th in qualifying at the Eurocup," says Dutton. "We changed everything - we couldn't understand what the hell was going on. One week later he qualified third for ALPS. That was really, really special."

In his next Eurocup outing, Leclerc took a fifth and a second at the Nurburgring, and in his final one he took a brace of seconds at the Hungaroring.

"I was looking after Matt Parry and Jack Aitken in Eurocup," says long-time Fortec driver coach Matt Howson. "I'd heard [Leclerc] was something maybe a bit special, but you hear that all the time, and wait until you see it yourself.

"Usually you understand the driving style straight away - what's good, what's bad - and the thing with Charles is it didn't matter whether there was understeer or oversteer, he seemed to deliver a lap time."

The cerebral approach of Leclerc and engineer Young frustrated Howson at the Nurburgring.

"He'd never seen the place, and there were only two 45-minute [test] sessions, and furthermore Martin was determined to try things on the car," says Howson.

"I said, 'Don't do it, leave him out'. He was last in the second session, and then he was P3 on the grid for the second race - that's unheard of in Eurocup [for a newcomer]. Renault is a very finicky formula, and it all has to come together to deliver results, but Charles seemed impervious to everything.

"Based on that first year, I knew he was a little bit special. Whenever he was tested in Eurocup, he defied his experience. That's a marker - that you can break all the accepted rules."

Talking about that Nurburgring episode, Young says: "That literally sums up Charles Leclerc. That year we were struggling in Eurocup, and I said I'd come in with Charles and we'd do some testing. Going into qualifying he'd never run new tyres, but he went from last to the front. Nothing ever fazed him."

In Young's view, he also compared favourably to Lando Norris, who tested FRenault cars with Fortec in 2014 before his first steps into single-seaters: "I worked with Lando towards the end of the year, and Lando eventually got to the same point [as Leclerc] but needed a lot of testing, but Charles could just get in and drive. It was second nature to him."

Russell took a distant fourth in the ALPS standings, although he did claim the 2014 BRDC F4 title.

"With Nyck winning the championship it didn't make any sense to me, but I think at the time there were a few dodgy chassis around," he says. "When I tested Nyck's car it was extremely different in terms of characteristics. I wasted a season there, but it was character-building."

He also suffered from chicken pox that caused him to miss the Monza round, where Leclerc took his two wins.

"I didn't think it affected me at the time, but I struggled a bit for no reason in the following few F4 races," says Russell. "It was quite severe - I've still got some bad scars. I put my family off their dinner a few times!"

But Russell trumped Leclerc by joining Tech 1 Racing for the final Eurocup round at Jerez as a wildcard - and winning: "I got my self-confidence back a bit, jumped in that car and won."

Both Russell and Leclerc had initially targeted a full season in Eurocup in 2015, but such were their reputations by the end of '14 that each went to the Formula 3 European Championship, Russell with Carlin, and Leclerc with Van Amersfoort Racing.

Fortec tried to hang on to Leclerc for F3. "We tried so hard to get him for F3, but we lost him to VAR," says Dutton. "We did some tests with him in the F3 car and he was straight on the pace. At Silverstone he was quickest of everybody there, and then we went to Valencia with him and we had a nightmare with mechanical issues. I think that didn't do us any good."

All who worked or raced with Leclerc agree about his qualities as a man.

"Of all the drivers in F1 who've come through us, Charles is the one who gets [guest] passes for the British Grand Prix," says Dutton. "He had Martin [Young] and Jamie [Dye] there this year the whole weekend, in Sauber hospitality. He's a proper guy."

"I still speak to Charles every week or so on various topics," adds Young, who attended Leclerc's initial grand prix free practice outings in 2016. "He's still exactly the same person."

Barnicoat, who is one of the drivers for the McLaren hot laps at F1 events, bumps into Leclerc regularly.

"When we raced against each other in Renault there was quite a lot of rivalry from what we'd had in karting," says the Briton, who added three 'wildcard' ALPS outings as direct team-mate to Leclerc to his title-winning NEC campaign.

"But it would have been nice to get more direct comparisons. In 2013, when we were in karting, I went to the grand prix with him in Monaco and stayed on his uncle's boat, and had a really good time. We spent a lot of time together, and although we were rivals we helped each other out. He was a good friend of mine and still is."

Leclerc is also resilient. "Jules Bianchi came to the Hungaroring Eurocup round to mentor him," says Howson, "and I understood then how close they were. After that incident [for Bianchi] and his father [who died in mid-2017], he's probably been tested off track more than anyone else, but it's not bled over into anything on track.

"He's incredibly mature. He's relatively introverted - he doesn't come in and make lots of noise, but he's polite, considerate and always looks you in the eye when he talks to you. It doesn't matter whether he's got loads of cameras on him, he'll always come over for a chat."

Russell, meanwhile, is "100%" sure that Leclerc will flourish at Ferrari.

"Charles is one of a handful of others I put in the best-of-the-best group," he says. "In my opinion he absolutely deserves his chance at Ferrari. He's got the speed and the talent, and I'm excited to see how he fares next year. I've no doubt that he will be competitive."

#series:f1 #year:2018 #driver:george #driver:ben.barnicoat #format:article

[scuderlia]

Ben Barnicoat and Charles Leclerc, ART Grand Prix (2013) via Drago Corse NKC-Motorsport on Facebook

#i'm your uber driver... get in #charles #:)

[valyrfia]

would you be willing to rec your favourite fics with the low kudo stats you just talked about? would love to be the one to add one more kudo to the tally!

yeah for sure!

even a Mouse by @ficster-28 - 19.7k, T, no pairings

Charles was fifteen when his dæmon settled. It was a perfectly average age to settle, and it happened so quietly and naturally that neither he nor Moira even noticed at first. They had other things to think about: today, they were aiming to beat out Ben Barnicoat and Max Verstappen at Val d’Argenton. It wasn’t until they were getting into the kart that they realised. Moira normally transformed into an insect to race, something small enough that she could crawl inside Charles’s race suit and be protected as he drove. Today, she didn’t even try to change; they both just looked at each other, and knew. “A mouse,” he said.

I don't even know where to start with this fic. It is by far my favourite F1 fic and is probably actually one of my favourite pieces of literature I have consumed. The whole fic is basically an exploration of sacrifice in motorsport in the form of a Dæmon AU. I read this early on when I was only reading Max/Charles stuff (you may recognise this author from their brilliant Lestappen fic in translation which ALSO haunts me, especially as a francophone) so I was a bit hesitant at first and it was only my love for His Dark Materials (dæmon AUs source material) that made me click on it. I have never been more glad. Please just take a leap of faith and read this.

melepathic. or something. by Anonymous - 8.5k, M, Lando/Oscar

It starts in Miami. It probably shouldn’t — Miami is far from amazing. Oscar’s brake issues and battery harvesting are laid out in the debrief like a wet sock. Lando doesn’t have much to add. What would he even say? The car was too slow. No shit. Anyway, it probably would’ve made more sense in Baku. Baku wasn’t bad. But it happened in Miami. Maybe because it wasn’t good, regression to a mean and all that as Jon likes to say. They filmed their final goodbyes for UNBOXED, had hot cocoa (Oscar) and a strawberry protein shake (Lando) in the canteen to put something of a bandage on the weekend. Oscar licked foam cream off from around his mouth. Lando found himself following the movement. Thing is, NDAs suck. They’re annoying, they’re nitpicky. If he’s in the mood and he has to go out, find someone, then whip out a biro and a legal threat, it kind of sucks. And not the good kind of sucking.

I'm pretty sure I've been insane about this fic on this blog before, but it's just such pitch-perfect characterisation of both Oscar and Lando that bleeds through perfectly into the prose as well, not just the dialogue. As a result, the end product is SO MUCH FUN even if the fic itself is kind of half crisis half FWB. It's a masterclass in characterisation and writing style, and I really wish there was more by this author to consume. It is THE best landoscar fic out there, and I think will be really difficult to top.

all that blood was never once beautiful by actparci (@sunshineyoujustwait) - 1.4k, T, Charles/Max

There are moments when Max gets it. He remembers Charles illuminated against the Monza sunshine, tall and proud, looking out over a sea of red. A king surveying his kingdom. a.k.a Max loves Charles, Charles loves Ferrari, Max struggles with the latter

A perfectly crafted character study of BOTH Charles and Max's characters that changed my brain chemistry in less than 2k words is all I have to say about this one. It's short, if you're Lestappen inclined there is no excuse to not have read this, the prose is GORGEOUS and the imagery is something else, and I'm always a fan of the Inherent Catholicism of Driving for Ferrari.

#anon #f1 fic rec #landoscar #lestappen

[kosite]

one of my favorite motorsport events of the year is almost here! the 24 hours of daytona starts january 27th, so i’ve assembled a list of some names i recognize who will be competing!

full entry list | how to watch

in the GTP Class

01 scott dixon, alex palou (with Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande)

7 felipe nasr, josef newgarden (with Frederic Makowiecki, Dane Cameron)

10 brendon hartley, marcus ericsson (with Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque)

31 jack aitken, tom blomqvist (with Pipo Derani)

40 louis deletraz, colton herta, jenson button (with Jordan Taylor)

in the LMP2 Class

2 pato o’ward (with ben hanley, ben keating, nico pino)

8 scott mclaughlin (with John Farano, Michael Dinan, Ferdinand Habsburg)

22 felix rosenqvist, paul di resta (with Dan Goldburg, Bijoy Garg)

52 clement novalak (with Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dilmann, Nick Boulle)

74 felipe massa (with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon)

in the GT Daytona Pro Class

1 sheldon van der linde (with Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers, Neil Verhagen)

3 alexander sims (with Antonio Garcia, Dani Juncadella)

9 james hinchcliffe, alex rossi (with Oliver Jarvis, Marvin Kirchhofer)

14 kyle kirkwood (with Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Mike Conway)

in the GT Daytona Class

13 alex lynn (with Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Lars Kern)

32 maximilian götz (with Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier, Kenton Koch)

60 romain grosjean (with Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Matteo Cairoli)

66 katherine legge, tatiana calderon (with Sheena Monk, Stevan McAleer)

83 iron dames - rahel frey, sarah nový, michelle gatting

#60 cars across 4 classes #with drivers from every series #it’s a lot of fun! #daytona 24h #24h of daytona #indycar #imsa #f1 #fia wec #formula e #dtm racing #scott dixon #josef newgarden #brendon hartley #marcus ericsson #jack aitken #jenson button #pato o’ward #alex lynn #maximilian götz #tatiana calderon #james hinchcliffe #alex rossi #scott mclaughlin #sheldon van der linde #alexander sims #kyle kirkwood #romain grosjean

[tatinkatin]

Anorher not so well known incident between Max and Charles as reported by a charles fans' website in 2013:

(For context this happened in a qualifying heat in Sarno in 2013.)

"Regarding Max Verstappen's WILLING accident on Charles, one of our sources in the paddock explained the problem in detail.

The Dutchman was experiencing clutch problems and his engine was giving up. As his clutch took several metres to catch each gear, the Monegasque driver, who was coming in at full speed, tried to get through on the inside but Verstappen could do nothing better than to take the ART GP driver out in the grass, before ending up on top of him and causing them both to lose ten places.

A few moments later, Charles, who had started under Max's nose, was pushed into the grass once again, then a second time, this time at full speed, on the brakes of the first corner. It should be noted that at this precise point of the circuit, the KZ1s reach the crazy speed of 160km/h, which is very dangerous in case of a crash! The Dutchman's gearbox could not cope with the shock and he gave up even before the chequered flag was lowered.

Such behaviour is not only incomprehensible, it is simply scandalous. And the question tonight is why the officials turned a blind eye to this serious incident that could have ended very badly.

In any case, it should be remembered that Max Verstappen is not a newcomer, as he was disqualified from a round of the European KF2 Championship because of a dangerous contact with Ben Barnicoat.

This behaviour is simply disgraceful and the karting world does not need drivers with such behaviour! It is really time that WSK officials regain control of their events and show authority towards the drivers."

translated with deepL

#had i posted this again? #idk #i dont remember #anyways #yes the source is biased #but there was not much more info i could find about it #lestappen #charles leclerc #max verstappen #f1

[russellius]

baby goat things

In December 2014, Russell became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, beating fellow finalists Alexander Albon, Ben Barnicoat, Sennan Fielding, Seb Morris and Harrison Scott to earn himself a £100,000 cash prize, British Racing Drivers' Club membership and a Formula One test with McLaren.

//

Russell completed three runs of four or five flying laps each, driving Jenson Button's 2011 Canadian Grand Prix-winning McLaren MP4-26 on demonstration tyres.

#george russell #the fact that it was jb's car :') #*m #14 #q #ch

[miamierre]

I was thinking about what you said and piarles at le mans and their third teammate is like idk, ben barnicoat or someone they've known since they were kids but lost touch and now they're all working together as a team and piarles are sickeningly in love BUT since they're idiots who don't know that their love is required, think that the other is in love with ben. pierre wants to break a glass when charles is out there giggling with ben and charles goes green with envy when he sees those two sitting there so much that one day he pulls a yuki and drops in pierre's lap so the attention is back on him. this keeps going on and on and ben is seriously confused and then one day he's sitting with piarles and they're being annoying as usual so he's just like "why don't you two kiss about it or something" and piarles are so confused because they think Ben was in love with the other and they're like wat are you talking about, wouldn't YOU rather kiss charles?? and he looks at pierre like he has grown a second head because no?? don't you know that I have a gf?? did I not mention she's abroad for her work?? AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOSE! Piarles realise they're being idiots and Ben is like "now kith" as if they were dolls. And then he becomes so annoying that piarles team up to declare a prank war on him and he is like, why did I put myself in this situation

OMG YEAH!!!!! YES!!!!!! pierre and charles actively flirting for each other's attention bc they think the other is into ben is so funny and so them ksbsjdmdkdmskdmf. no notes. 10000/10

#ben gets the ''right in front of my salad?'' every single day #ask reply #Anonymous

[firebirdman]

VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3 | 🇬🇧 Ben Barnicoat 🇬🇧 Mike Conway 🇬🇧 Jack Hawksworth 🇺🇸 Kyle Kirkwood | P11 GT3 Pro | Daytona 2024

[russilton]

Wait what did Lance do that almost cost George his career?

So its more about Lawrence than Lance himself, If you look in this article it’s covered with quotes from George to back it up as a source, and here, and George has been outspoken about lance’s money causing unfair orders for his teammates, but in short, in 2014 before a run at the BRDC F4 championship and FRECA, George was signed to compete in FRECA with PREMA, but 10 days before the season began he was unceremoniously dumped due to a veto by Lawrence stroll, who held stakes in the team.

Lance and George weren’t even racing in the same series at the time, as Lance was competing in the Florida winter series and Italian F4.

The reason this is notable in the case of George’s career is that during podcast interviews George has divulged that in 2013/14 he was given the ultimatum by his parents that next year either he needed to be securing additional sponsors, or he wouldn’t be able to race anymore, because they just didn’t have the funding for single seater series. George’s dad had sold their family business, his brother had stopped karting, they were travelling and sleeping in a tiny camping van to and from his races. His dad even reportedly slept in a horse box once, money was that tight. The poor kid was fifteen/sixteen at the time, he’d just left school the year before. It was a lot to put on him.

George credits this season as his make or break season in the second article, if he hadn’t won the f4 championship, he thinks that he might not have received funding to enter into the f3 seasons he did because his record would have only shown his okay but not great season at Koiranen, the team that he was forced to go to with only a weeks notice after losing his PREMA seat. While arguably he could have won there, it was nyck in a koiranen that won the season, that short notice change could have ended even worse. He doesn’t say it explicitly above, but this was the same year around the end of this season he reached out to Toto for financial help and thus would explain the comment about CV’s and needing to impress. The next season he went to Carlin after Toto told him not to, but still did well enough he’d been ‘unofficially’ signed as a merc junior by the end of 2016, made official the following year. Having that 2014 season go well was vital for George.

This is a lot of ramble ramble driver history, and its not Lances fault that his dad did that and put George in a risky place- but it DOES show how one easy swipe of Lawrences hand to move George from a seat he earned, could have ended his racing career. George is far from the only driver its happened to, both Ben Barnicoat and LANDO were blocked from PREMA seats. It’s one thing to buy your kid a seat. It’s another to pick their teammates.

#asks #anonymous #mark’s driver meta #wank/rants #to be safe

[blogynews]

"Unyielding Vasser Sullivan Aims for Coveted Motorsports Crown! What's Next? A Sensational Return to IndyCar!"

Vasser Sullivan, the Lexus factory program, had a strong start to the IMSA sports car season, indicating that a championship was within reach. After winning at Watkins Glen and securing podium finishes in four of the first five races, the team arrived in Canada with high confidence, further boosted by winning the pole position. However, the race did not go as planned, with Ben Barnicoat going off…

View On WordPress

[chibrary]

2013: Charles with his teammate, Ben Barnicoat.

#series:karting #year:2013 #driver:ben.barnicoat #format:photos

[scuderlia]

karting sites will have a "charles leclerc" section where a third of the photos are of ben barnicoat

#do not separate #charles #lia.txt

[blogynewz]

"Unyielding Vasser Sullivan Aims for Coveted Motorsports Crown! What's Next? A Sensational Return to IndyCar!"

Vasser Sullivan, the Lexus factory program, had a strong start to the IMSA sports car season, indicating that a championship was within reach. After winning at Watkins Glen and securing podium finishes in four of the first five races, the team arrived in Canada with high confidence, further boosted by winning the pole position. However, the race did not go as planned, with Ben Barnicoat going off…

View On WordPress

[racingheartstopper]

Tranaslation of an interview

Exclusive interview with Charles Leclerc

It was last Saturday, as part of the KZ World Championship, that Charles kindly gave us a little of his time for a short interview. The interview is divided into two parts: a first that looks back on his karting career, and a lighter and more offbeat second. Many thanks to All Road Management.

You discovered karting in a somewhat atypical way since you pretended to be sick so as not to go to school. Do you realize today that because, or rather, thanks to this little lie, your life has changed completely?

Yes, for sure, since it was a good opportunity for me, but at first it was just for fun. Then it became more serious and now I'm working to realize my dream, and I hope it will come true.

In 2010 you went to KF3 and you became the youngest French Vice-Champion in the history of karting, but you especially won the Monaco Kart Cup, at home, in Monaco, in front of your family and friends.

What memories do you have of this victory?

It's true that it was a good memory, since it was at home, in front of my friends. It was a race in the rain and everything worked perfectly for me. Now, I don't think it's very significant but I was very happy to win it, it's always a pleasure.

In 2011 you become World Under-15 Champion. Was it a first dream realized or just a step towards an even greater goal?

It was a first dream realized because becoming World Champion is always something special. But I also know that it was only a first step to take, to climb the hierarchy of motorsport.

It is at the end of the same year 2011 that we discover you, thanks to your two victories at the ERDF Master Kart in Paris-Bercy.

Our first contacts were made in December 2011 and three months later, our site was born. What did you think of our initiative?

I was pleasantly surprised by your initiative! I think the site is super well done. It is updated quickly so it's very good for people who try to follow me.

The media on karting are few but very popular among insiders (kartcom, kartmag). Are you interested in what they can say about you in their articles?

Yes, it is always important to have a good image even if what is said is not always true.

Let's talk about this Varennes race, which will probably be your last in karting. How are you feeling? Already nostalgic or happy to move on?

For the moment I'm only focusing on kart and tomorrow's Final. Then I think I'll miss kart but I don't think I'll separate from it completely.

Which drivers did you prefer to fight with in karting?

Max Verstappen, Ben Hanley and all the great KZ drivers because it's exceptional to fight with people like them who have a lot of experience.

After all these years, have you made real friends in the paddock?

In karting, finally, in motorsport, I think it's always very difficult to make very good friends, but I have friends, since I get along well with everyone. My only real friends in kart are Ben Barnicoat and Valentin Moineault.

What assessment would you have of your karting career?

My career has brought me a lot of things, including experience. The single-seater is something very different, and since I have not yet raced on these cars I do not yet know what karting can bring me. Maybe the experience of platoon battles.

A new career begins for you next year with the single-seater. Are you rather impatient or a little nervous?

At the moment I'm just happy.

Not nervous?

Not nervous.

Do you have time to follow the Formula 1 season this year, and who do you think will be world champion?

No, I didn't have time to follow everything, but I think Sebastian Vettel will be World Champion since everything is ready for him.

Offbeat questions:

What is your favorite dish and drink?

Pasta and still water (laughs)

What do you know how to cook better?

Pasta.

What's on your MP3 player and what are you listening to right now?

Not much at the moment. I mostly listen to old songs, so I'm not very up to date in terms of music.

What is the last movie you saw?

The biography of Ayrton Senna.

What would you like to have as your first car?

(Laughter) It's sure that having a Ferrari wouldn't bother me, but with my means, I don't know at the moment. I'm thinking about it.

What job would you like to do if you had to stop your career in motorsport?

Engineer in motorsport.

If you could relive an important event in the history of motorsport. Which one would you choose?

The battle between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Suzuka for example.

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