With only 3 rounds of the Gokartcentralen Open GP Championship to go, there is excitement from top to bottom in the standings. Grabko Grand Prix is still keeping hopes of a top 5 finish alive, with only 1 point separating Dan from the Hesus Autosport's Svanberg for 6th and 24 points up to Team VLR.nu's pilot Bodin in 5th. Haraldsson GP also will no doubt be gunning for the 5th spot as well, being only 5 points back from Grabko Grand Prix - the 5th to 8th positions being only separated by 29 points. The fight at the top is also nowhere near a forgone conclusion. Last year's championship runner-up, Erkin Bour of EB Karting, has all but dominated the season, taking 7 wins from 7 this campaign. However, the team is rumoured to miss out on one of the last 3 rounds of the series due to prior driver engagements, and that may leave the door open for Daniel Svensson to have a say, currently 2nd on 263 points, 39 off the top spot. A race win for him in Erkin's absence would see him take over the championship lead. This week’s testing session was to be the last before the 8th round of the Championship, as the team goes on a much needed and much appreciated 5 day Easter Break from Easter Sunday. As such it was imperative that good data was collected and the driver produced a good consistent runs. All in all it was a positive session, but track conditions on the day dictated misrepresentative lap times. Most of the teams have already gone on Easter Break, so the team went out with virtually the first machines on track for the day. This meant the circuit was not rubbered in at all and tires were cold. Dan was going to have to do all the hard work himself trying to wear in the track on his reconnaissance run to prepare as best as possible for the race simulation scheduled to follow. Grabko Grand Prix is extremely proud to be able to officially announce the team's first ever sponsorship deals. In addition to several ancillary agreements, the team revealed today that they have secured two multi-year title partnerships with Jobtip and Event Logic. Team principal Dan Grabko said, "As an organisation, this is a very big day for us. These deals will enable the team to grow and develop, and help us to reach our short and long term goals in expanding our competitive presence locally and regionally." Whether it be structural integrity in the fabrication lab, aerodynamics in the wind tunnel, clocking hours in the simulator, or exploring car setup while churning laps on the circuit, testing has been and always will be the most time consuming and energy expending aspect of motorsport at all levels. It is all about preparation and execution, and even for a team in its humble beginnings like Grabko Grand Prix, testing is an integral part of being ready when race day finally arrives. As in most on-track testing sessions, the focus isn't primarily on squeezing out the fastest lap times, but rather in becoming familiar with the various setups and idiosyncrasies of the individual racing karts. |