Even for the current French champion, climbing for the first time onto a WSK podium, on the second step, can be a powerful moment, which is not easily forgotten. The Genk experience proved again that a positive state of mind and determination are key elements for a good result, and are just as important as the speed of a kart. Good job Gabi!

Performances were excellent at this last round of the WSK Euro Series season. Gabriel Aubry's Birel/TM official kart proved to be up to expectations for this young driver from Equipe de France FFSA Karting already at the opening of hostilities. Indeed, he set the fastest time in his group in Friday afternoon's timed qualifying, the second fastest lap out of the 76 entered drivers, by perfectly exploiting all the potential of his kart.

In the qualifying heats, Gabriel showed again his liking for the Genk circuit. It was on this same circuit that he conquered his first successes in KF3, in the Belgian Championship, at the end of 2011. This time the level of competition was much higher, with all the best specialists of the class renamed KFJ, but he won in the first two meetings and was second in the third. So far so good...

Saturday's last heat made the situation a lot more complicated. Already at the start, there was electricity in the air. Gabi had a contact at the start of the race and his kart literally flew up in the air. «Shaken, not stirred», as James Bond would say, he lost a few places (seven, to be precise) but then he pushed hard and started to regain ground, getting back in the top 5. Unfortunately an overconfident driver provoked him on several occasions and in the end they both finished in the grass, when the young bully tried to pass him aggressively on the outside. Gabriel's legitimate fit of anger was sanctioned, though not heavily, by the panel of stewards. The most serious consequence, though, was that the Birel chassis, which had worked perfectly until then, came off rather badly from the accident.

While the driver was trying to recover as quickly as possible, both physically and mentally, the Birel staff restored Gabriel's kart geometry during the night and both the driver and the kart regained their usual effectiveness for Sunday's final phases, under a shiny sun. 15th instead of second, as he could have hoped for after the heats, Gabi went immediately to the attack and regained his second place during pre-final A, which allowed him to start from the second line on the inside in the final race. He started to fight for leadership already on the second lap, but he had to acknowledge David Beckmann's superiority and remain second up to the finish line, after opening a gap over the rest of the pack.

Gabriel and his team were satisfied with the final result, a second place in a major international meeting. The driver, who was congratulated by his team mates, definitely experienced a boost in self-confidence, a factor that could increase his competitiveness with a view to the beginning of the European CIK-FIA Championship at Alcaniz, in Spain, in a few days' time.