Thanks to nice weather and a pretty good crowd, the Ostricourt GPO enjoyed a good success at the presence of a good number of drivers from the Belgian Championship, but perhaps it also marked an important turning point for the French Championship 2011. The winners of the three categories - Esteban Ocon in KF3, Guillaume De Ridder in KF2, and Thomas Mich in KZ2 - dominated the scene during the meeting by standing head and shoulders above anyone else for two days, something rare enough to deserve a special mention, without giving their competitors a chance to find their place in the sun. But there was some heavy fighting for the places of honour.

KF2: De Ridder Achieves Significant Victory
To be fair, Léo Roussel (Sodi/Parilla) is to be associated to these victories because he won the KF2 final race on Saturday and is now second in the Championship standings. Guillaume De Ridder (Tony Kart/Vortex) dominated the scene during the whole meeting, but an unsuitable setup slowed him on this occasion. His final victory on Sunday was a fair reward for his excellent performance overall. Enzo Guibbert (FA Kart/Vortex) was fast enough on the first day, but a few mechanical problems slowed him the following day and stopped him from challenging the Belgian driver's supremacy. Victor Sendin (Tony Kart/Vortex) did not have the chance to battle for victory as he had hoped to, but was always in the lead pack and finally strengthened his position as leader of the French Championship. Among the most active of the weekend, mention should be made of Pascal Belmaaziz (DR/Parilla), who showed some nice performances on Saturday and improved even more on Sunday, when he made it to the second step of the podium and conquered an important place, the third, in the provisional standings.

KF3: Ocon Above All the Others
Esteban Ocon was already leader of the French KF3 Championship before coming to Ostricourt, but had often been forced to fight hard to maintain his place. This time, he simply made the grand slam: first in time qualifying, in the pre-final and in the final race, on both racing days. His team is working hard to get ready at best for future major European meetings and this time it prepared a high-performance FA Kart/Vortex for Ocon, which allowed him to fully express his talent. The fight was limited to the drivers in second place, with Valentin Moineault and Paolo Besancenez, both on Sodi/Parilla, at their best as co-protagonists, on the second step of the podiums. On Saturday, Etienne Mordret conquered the second place in the pre-final and was twice 4th on Sunday. Besancenez went back to second in the standings preceding Boccolacci, who was slower during the weekend due to his kart, less effective than usual. Sunday's double third place by Hubert Petit (Sodi/Parilla) in the two races also deserves a special mention.  

KZ2: Perfect Weekend for Mich
Thomas Mich (Birel/TM) did not have any real competitor of his stature this weekend, given the ease with which he dominated the scene at the meeting. The battle took place behind him, in particular between two Sodi/Maxter drivers, Anthony Abbasse and Charles Fiault, to the benefit of the latter, who was second on Saturday in the two races, while Clément Da Silva (Birel/TM) gained the upper hand over Fiault and concluded with a second place in Sunday's final. Twice third on Saturday, Abbasse went up to second during Sunday's pre-final before he retired in the final due to clutch problems. Emilien Grosso (Intrepid/TM) conquered a pretty good place in the lead group and was fourth in the two races the first day, while (Energy/TM) made himself noticed by concluding very close to the second podium, after an empty-handed weekend in Angerville. Luck was not on Morgan Weber's (Merlin/TM) side, as demonstrated by a chain breakage on Saturday, a very rare event in KZ, but he is still a credible candidate to victory, in second place, though only two small points ahead of Fiault.