Team Poland wins first edition 12h Summer Race of Tor Gokartowy in Szczecin (PL)

by awosy · Published 30 August 2016 · Updated 1 September 2016

Last weekend the first edition of the 12h summer race of Tor Gokartowy took place in Szczecin, Poland. Organisers of the event are Remigiusz Drzazga and Bartosz Malutko, two Polish kart fanatics known from several races and championships in Poland on the circuit of Silverhotel. With 17 teams on the starting grid, the first edition was more then successful.

Tor Gokartowy @ Szczecin

Tor Gokartowy is an outdoor kart track in Szczecin. Some years ago they bought a fleet of Sodi karts from Eupener karting in Belgium after they served their time there, but they never used them before because the track was not suitable for them. But in spring this year, the track got a whole new tarmac surface and the karts are finally put into use. The perfect moment to organise an endurance, the first race of this length ever in Poland!

17 teams on the starting grid, some of them international and also two Belgian teams: the crew of our partner Kart Events Belgium, and also the omnipresent Traxxis Racing Team (lineups further down in this article).
Another Belgian (Michiel Gruyaert) was guest driver for team GPS.
One person even took the challenge to drive the 12h completely by himself, Polish driver Piotr Wołynka (WP Trans).

The qualification was split into 3 sessions. Three different drivers had to drive and 1 session was required to be driven on 95kg minimum weight (the other two on 85kg).

12h Race Szczecin Qualification Result

The race had 18 stints so that every team would have every kart, a minimum weight of 85kg. In the race 4 stints had to be on 95kg, teams could choose themselves when they would drive these.

The Belgian team Kart Events Belgium took pole position followed by WP Trans and Team Poland. Traxxis Racing Team took the 5th place on the starting grid. After some hours in the race, it was clear that the battle the podium place would be between Team Poland, Kart Events Belgium, WP Trans, Traxxis Racing Team and RBR Scuderia. But actually a lot could happen with some difference in the karts, team tactics on the 95kg stints, and the track temperature after sunset.

Last half hour into the race, Team Poland took first place from Kart Events Belgium who was driving their last stint on 95kg and took victory. WP Trans took 3th place, a marvellous result after driving for 12h alone.

Sadly for Piotr Wołynka, he was not in taken into the official result for the podium. The rules say a team had to have 3 drivers minimum. So Traxxis Racing Team got 3th place and Piotr got his own cup for his exceptional race!

P1. Team Poland (Mateusz Bartsch , Michał Ryndzionek , Adrian Ziejewski )
P2. Kart Events Belgium (Siebert Verfaillie , Kenneth Naessens , Bjorn Bourgonjon )
~~P3. WP Trans (Piotr Wołynka )~~
P3. Traxxis Racing Team (Stefan Verhofsté , Peter Neefs , Ward Maenhout )