Returning for a second time to join the French Championship,
Belgian Driver Kris Fruru made the trip to Circuit de Kerlabo for round 7 of
the Championship which attracted an impressive 113 competitors.
Piloting the PGM S1600 Suzuki Swift in the sixteen strong
class, it was nothing but an eventful weekend for the lorry driver from
Westerlo.
Kris Fruru - Circuit de Kerbalo
Developing a throttle sensor fault after first practice, the
weekends racing momentarily looked in jeopardy, yet with assistance of French
speaking Father Fruru sourcing bolts and an adjustment made to overcome the
problem, the heats were raced through day one with no further problems.
Returning to a wet track for day two, whilst many took the
practice on slicks, it was not long before the changes started to the
regulation wet tyre. Debating whether the
investment should be made to purchase a full set of wets, clarification of the
current wet tyre only being legal for the remainder of 2015 due to a future tyre
change and only 2 further French rounds being contested by Fruru for the
remainder of the season, the decision was made to stick with slicks.
Being the only competitor not on a wet tyre for heat 3,
Fruru kept it on the track and stayed out of trouble to go on and claim fourth in
the Semi-Final qualifying for A final promotion. With undoubtedly some of the best S1600
drivers in Europe contesting this championship, which is what attracted Fruru
to the series initially, even lining up in the A final was a major feat for the
foreign visitor. Having experienced the pace of these phenomenal
French machines back in 2014, when the Rallycross Challenge Europe visited this
venue, it is evident that with the developments to the car through the season,
pace has been increased as Fruru claimed eighth and picked up some nice prize
money in the process.
It is only two weeks until Fruru takes to the track again,
this time in front of his home crowd at Maasmechelen, Belgium for Round 3 of
the Rallycross Challenge Europe.
