On the July 14th holiday weekend, Julie’s now famous pink butterflies reached a truly pan-European audience. Whether it was at Sosnova in the Czech republic, Genk in Belgium or Essay in France, KF2 (Espoir) and KF3 (Junior) drivers said “yes” to Europe on the occasion of the eagerly awaited European qualifiers for their respective region. Let's take a closer look at the meeting that took place in Normandy.

122 out of the 377 competitors entered for the two European championships were present in Essay, racing on the "Grand Ouest" circuit so dear to Claude Gripon and his K61 team. They all had the same idea in their head – to get to the final stages of the championships! The KF2 finals are on August 4-5 in Salbris (France) and the KF3 ones are on September 1-2 in Sarno (Italy). Julie Tonelli's colours will once again be on display, because several drivers who support her managed to pass this stiff test.

KF2: Reguillon on home ground

Reguillon lived up to expectations on a track he knows like the back of his hand. The local man finish the weekend as the top-placed Frenchman with a superb 5th place in the race, thus qualifying him for the finals of the European championships in Salbris. Better still, the Team France driver also qualified for the KF2 World Cup in September, which will be the curtain-raiser to the KF1 World championship race. Only the top 5 drivers in Essay were awarded this privilege. Norman Nato also lived up to expectations by coming home 9th. Kevin Bole Besançon was hoping for better than a modest 23rd place, but the main thing was to qualify, as did Miki Monras from Spain and Bruno Nascimento from Portugal, both driving Maranellos bearing Julie's colours. Unfortunately, there was not room for everybody. It was hard to swallow, but favourites such as Benjamin da Silva and William Benedetti fell by the wayside.

KF3: Brits on top of their game

With the top three places going to her Majesty's subjects, the race near Naples in September promises to be an all-British affair. 2nd and 3rd placed men Tom Grice and Oliver Rowland bore Julie's colours proudly onto the Essay podium behind winner Jack Harvey. Top-placed Frenchman Brandon Maïsano came 4th, distinguishing himself in a race in which he also took pole position. In a season that has not been the happiest for him so far, Kevin Mourey reached his goal by finishing 11th. Two other supporters of the Julie Tonell Foundation, Briton Jordon Lennox-Lamb and Portuguese driver David Rambeau, booked their passage to Italy. Not everyone was quite so lucky.

Bluy: When karting is a family business

The Bluy family have been familiar faces on the kart track for the past seven years. Elie was the one who got the ball rolling, then it was the turn of brother Clément and sister Amandine. Somewhat put off by the macho behaviour of some of the boys, Amandine decided to turn her attentions to the other great love of her life, horse-riding. Elie and Clément shone right from their debut in the Minime class before eventually going head-to-head in KF2. “There is great complicity between the brothers. They're always helping each other, comparing notes and spurring each other on,” says their mother Cathy, who much prefers to help out in the pits than to stand watching from the sidelines. In Essay, the brothers both had good runs in the heats, and started the first final almost together, one in 12th place and the other 14th. Unfortunately, only Clément managed to book a ticket for Salbris by keeping the same place he had won during qualifying. A prang put paid to his brother's hopes. But he will still be making the trip down to Sologne, where he will be doing his utmost to support Clément. Both brothers have been Julie Tonelli Foundation supporters since the beginning.