Nikola Sredojević

Nikola closed his first DMV season with the Liedolsheim race. Weather wise, it was unpredictable and changeable during Friday/Saturday practice and qualifier and choice of tyres and setting was at question from minute to minute. Nikola started reasonable on Friday, trying to understand yet another new track. On Saturday in 3rd practice he was 3rd logging time 0.087 seconds shy of the first and everything looked great for qualifier. Then the disaster struck; in qualifier his time dropped 3 seconds and it was obvious that something has gone very wrong. Nikola was devastated with P11 but decided he would fight in race 1 so he can take good position for final race. It was later discovered that his carburetor failed, causing massive speed drop. No testing was possible after that and we all hoped that was the only problem. However, engine could not be changed as Nikola had only one engine allocated for the weekend. In 1st race it was obvious that engine performance was far below expected and Nikola basically did a good job defending P11. For race 2 everything that could have been done by kart settings has been done and he was slightly faster, but still not enough which scored him P12 and very bitter taste at the season end. “I was just too slow and it was frustrating I couldn’t do anything about it. I know I can race here very well and yet, this is my worst result of the season”, he concluded.
But, that’s motorsport and this happens, especially when you run on a minimum possible budget. However, we are all pleased with the season which was far better than expected for the youngest on the grid. He occupies 10th place in final standings. His fighting spirit and talent was well spotted and his sportsmanship and relation to the other drivers was excellent. We hope Nikola will participate in the next year season with much better conditions and show his full potential. “Lockenkopf”, as someone called him, has made a statement.

Ortenauring Urloffen is known as very technical and difficult to overtake track. However, Nikola has shown that he can master the track and proves that he is able to fight for the top once he has some practice. Ortenauring is the only track where Nikola had any practice at all. It was in winter ’09, but still a great help to him.

That he means good race, Nikola proved in qualifier. P3 was the great result and Nikola was ready to race in the top. He logged his fastest time at the dying moments of qualifying session jumping from P5 to P3.

RACE ONE
Encouraged by his good qualifier Nikola tried to attack the leaders from the moment the red lights were off, but bit too early, crossing the “middle line” before the starting line, which is not allowed by new regulations, earning himself 10 seconds penalty before he even passed curve 1. When he was shown the table, he lost concentration (not knowing in that moment why the penalty was given) and dropped few places down. However, he fought his way back to P5. While fighting for P4, Nikola launched great attack from inside on his team mate, who is 3rd in the championship. His team mate saw loosing the position and decided to turn into Nikola’s kart causing damage to his kart and sending him into a spin. Ending up 11th was the final standing leaving Nikola bitter and disappointed, knowing his fight for podium was over. However, final race was coming and he decided to leave the mark.

RACE TWO
In this race, Nikola (and 3 other drivers) earned himself 3 seconds penalties for stepping the same “middle line” in the heat of the fight. However, he managed to overtake 4 drivers and score the 3rd fastest lap time through the traffic. He ended the race in P6 after his team mate was disqualified as he was “underweight” after the race control scrutinising.
Nikola’s drive in the 2nd race was spectacular and had he had few more laps, he would probably do better than P6. However, from 11th to best result this season is great result for a young rookie. There is one last race this season in Liedolsheim, another new track and a new challenge. Nikola is presently 11th in the championship, just 2 points behind 9th and 10th team mates who share the same number of points.

As usual, Nikola had to race on the track he is on for the first time. While getting a good progress in Friday and Saturday practices in dry conditions, heavy rain moved the posts and made it very difficult on the race day. Nikola was in solid 9th place during the first heat to lose one position at the last moment when he hit the paddle of water just before the start/finish line. In the second heat, things on the track got worse. Everyone on the track was struggling to keep the kart actually running on track. Nikola used the opportunity and was at P6 after first lap to spin at turn 2 later and minimize his chances of excellent result. However, he finished the race in 10th and once again, he was the only one not happy with the result. It becomes more and more obvious that lack of practice and his kart condition (weight and some parts issues) has to be dealt with to allow him to go for remarkable results he’s capable of. Nikola is looking forward to the next race in Urloffen, as that is the only track in the calendar he has seen before. Rain would suit him just fine as he practiced in Urloffen in November 2009 in rain, cold and wet conditions.

Nikola turns 8 today, 25th July! He is celebrating his birthday in circle of family and closest friends, as he is one of the “summer time” birthday boys, waiting for end of summer break to throw a party for his school mates, when they are all around.

As usual, his birthday falls on or around German Grand Prix which will spice up his afternoon, right before the party.

Happy birthday Nikola!

Wackersdorf weekend was hot, with temperatures in mid-thirties but changeable in humidity, which was the highest on the race day. Nikola proved that he can perform in both extremes; hot and cold. Familiarising himself with the rather difficult but beautiful track was rather fast and he mastered the critical points very quickly. There was a bit of a struggle with the set up and there are few lessons Nikola has to learn to improve his times.
Qualifier was rather disappointing as he could not repeat the times from free practice and was almost a second slower. That resulted in P9 at the grid when starting the race one. Being stacked in traffic for most of the race by 2 carts in front of him, his tries to overtake them was not successful till 2 laps before the end when he used the scramble of 2 mentioned carts to his advantage and overtook the both in turn 4 to end the race in P7.  
Second race start was good but he lost a place when in the traffic. At the beginning of lap 2 he was closed when trying to overtake from inside the first chicane and was airborne, causing fear to all of us watching and thinking he would end up with an accident. However, he landed on the grass and then back on track and carried on with the same pace. He did make another pass for P7 but lost it when he was hit few times from the back and ended up the race in solid P8 just 0.02 sec short of P7.
Nikola was rather not happy with the second race and frustrated that stewards did not react to the incident. However, 19 points and 2 places up in the championship are proof that his learning curve is still heading upwards.
There is a 5 weeks gap to the next race and the opportunity to relax and recharge his batteries for Wittgenborn race on 15th August.