The kick-off to the German Electric Kart Championship (DEKM) took place last weekend at the Prokart Raceland Wackersdorf. In temporarily changing weather, the international field of participants showed thrilling kart racing with close racing decisions. In the end, German Luka Wlömer and Lin Chen Han from Taiwan won.

Drivers from seven nations started in Wackersdorf into the new season of the DEKM and experienced diversified races. The globally unique racing series impressed with a high power density. During the races, the drivers were closely together and fought narrow duels from start to finish line. On Saturday and Sunday, the DEKM consisted of qualifying, a pre-final and final respectively.

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Luka Wlömer wins on Saturday

Saturday was dominated by the weather. Sunshine and rain alternated and choosing the right tires was difficult. Right on time for qualifying it started to rain. The entire field was driving with slick tires on the 1.190m long track though and had to show their driving skills. Luka Wlömer from Berlin dealt with the conditions the best and ended up on pole position.

He was also able to prevail over his competition during the later pre-final and final and stood on top of the podium as the winning driver. His pursuers made things difficult for Wlömer until the end though. In the final race, up to five drivers had realistic chances of winning. The decision was only made on the home stretch in a foto-finish. Bradley Barrett from England came in second in front of German Joel Sturm.

„The day already started with a difficult qualifying. The pole position was the basis for the later victory though. I still had a good lead in the pre-final, but the final race was considerably more difficult. I had to keep a close eye on my pursuers until the end and won very narrowly”, Wlömer analyzed in his winner’s interview

Taiwanese Lin Chen Han successful on Sunday

In contrast to the day before, it stayed completely dry on Sunday and the field was even more closely together. Yesterday’s winner Luka Wlömer was fastest at qualifying again. The leading driver got under a lot of pressure during the pre-final though, but still came in first.

During the final race, the fight for victory was continued. Next to Wlömer, Swiss Jasin Ferati was temporarily on first place as well. Towards the end of the race, Wlömer profited from the fights behind him though and came in first. A subsequent spoiler penalty threw him back to third place though. New winner was Lin Chen Han in front of Joel Sturm.

“I’m proud to have won. It’s a great experience to drive the Rotax THUNDeR E-Kart and I really enjoy it. The races were challenging and very narrow. The competition is really strong”, the winner summed up his impressions.

After the kick-off, the DEKM is now taking a short break. Things are going to continue from July 12^th – 14^th on the traditional Erftlandring in Kerpen.