Mathilda Paatz appeared in the new design at the WSK Open Cup in Lonato, Italy: The Cologne native will compete in the Kart Republic works team for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, the first appearance in the new colours did not go as desired. After a good performance, the Cologne native narrowly missed the final on Sunday. Nevertheless, Paatz was able to gain valuable experience for the upcoming challenges.
As in the WSK Euro Series races in which the ADAC Nordrhein development driver took part this summer, Paatz competed for KR Motorsport, the Kart Republic factory team. For the rest of the season, the Cologne native will be wearing the colours of the Italian chassis manufacturer, which brought additional motivation: In the free practice on Friday morning, which took place in sunshine, the 14-year-old showed her potential and drove to third place in her group before the weather changed.
On the wet track, Paatz had to contend with a lack of experience, unlike the competition. Nevertheless, she showed a solid performance, but on her fastest lap, of all things, the Cologne native was almost forced off the track by a competitor. Despite two very fast sector times, the incident caused a big loss of time, so that in qualifying she ended up in 14th position in the group. From this starting position, Paatz had to tackle all the heats, so her disappointment was clear to see.
The free practice in the morning was really good and in dry conditions I could have certainly achieved a good starting position.
Mathilda Paatz
"I really wanted to have a good qualifying session so that I wouldn't be stuck in the midfield battles in the heats," the 14-year-old was disappointed. "Free practice in the morning was really good and in dry conditions I could have definitely achieved a good starting position." Nonetheless, the "Women in Motorsport" ambassador was combative. In the first of the two rainy heats, Paatz improved to 12th position, while the second heat still resulted in 13th place. With these results, the Cologne-based racer started into Saturday, where the aim was to collect further top positions in order to achieve a good starting position for the important pre-final on Sunday.
Paatz just misses the final
In the third heat on Saturday morning, Paatz fought her way up into the top ten with a strong performance and successful overtaking manoeuvres. In the fourth race, the German Sport Driver's Association protégé got entangled in tough duels with numerous changes of position. In the end, Paatz had to admit defeat after hard attacks from the competition, so that she crossed the finish line in 17th place. A five-second spoiler penalty threw the Rhinelander back to 18th position.
I had various duels and duels over the course of the weekend, where I was able to learn a lot once again. Because at international level, I still lack the duel toughness and thus a bit of competitiveness.
Mathilda Paatz
In the fifth and final heat, Paatz had to give it his all once again, but things did not go as planned with 16th place. In the pre-final, Paatz fought his way up from 22nd on the grid to 17th. "I was able to maintain my position at the start," Paatz reported. "Unfortunately, a competitor spun directly in front of me on the third lap. The necessary evasive manoeuvre cost me real time and also two places. After that, I kept closing the gaps and showed good overtaking manoeuvres." Nevertheless, she missed the participation in the final race by two points. Paatz came 40th overall in the final classification, but only the best 36 pilots were allowed to take part in the final.
"I'm annoyed that I missed the final by such a narrow margin. Once again it has been shown how important qualifying is. I was able to show my potential in practice, but that's not enough for me," Paatz sums up. "Nevertheless, I am also satisfied to some extent. I had various duels and duels over the course of the weekend, where I was once again able to learn a lot. Because at international level I still lack the duel toughness and thus a bit of competitiveness."
"It is an honour that I get to compete for the Kart Republic factory team," says Paatz. "This allows me to learn a lot, which gives me an extra boost." Now the Cologne native is preparing for the FIA Motorsport Games in France (29-31 October), in which she will compete as part of "Motorsport Team Germany" in the 'Karting Sprint Junior' category.
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