CIK European KFJ Championship. Round 4. PFI, England 31/8/ 14
The time had arrived and the stage was set to crown the 2014 CIK European Champion. Past Champions of this highly prestigious title include Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, and Max Verstappen. The PFI Track, in Grantham, England was to host the fourth and final round of the European CIK Championship. Could this be a fairy tale homecoming for the promising Enaam Ahmed, or humiliation in front of his home crowd, and potential sponsors/ investors. With a less than satisfactory third round display in Sweden, was the writing already on the wall for this Young Master. The adage, “You’re only as good as your last race”, may come back to haunt him this weekend. Or was Ahmed made of sterner stuff.
Preparations went as planned, Enaam topped the leader board during dry testing conditions on Thursday and Friday. During qualifying on the Friday afternoon it began to rain. This could have easily hampered Enaam’s plans but he managed an impressive 3rd in the group which meant he would start 3rd for the heats.
Enaam won the first heat outracing the German pole man David Beckmann. The second heat saw Enaam receive a 10 second penalty for contact with another driver. He came 2nd in the third heat, and won the fourth heat. Very impressive results but for the 10 second penalty. This cost him and meant he would start 7th for the Pre-Final grid.
Going into the Pre-Final Enaam knew there were ten other drivers who had a realistic chance of taking this title. It was crucial he got a good start and avoid any contact or crashes. The start saw him fight his way into 4th position and making progress. However an incident behind him caused the race to be red flagged. The race restarting meant Enaam’s hard work had gone for nothing. The race started once again and Enaam literally mimicked the previous race and settled into 4th. The Pre-Final was on. Although Beckmann had got away with a considerable lead, Enaam worked his way through the field in pursuit to catch the German. With lap times multiple tenths faster than the rest of the field, it only took 4 laps to close Beckmann’s 3 second gap. Once Enaam caught him he knew he was in control and pulled away to take the win.
The Team knew they were in the perfect position for the Final. His biggest threats Daniel Ticktum, Mick Junior (Son of Schumacher), and Devlin Defranchesco were placed further down the grid and lacked pace. Walking out in pole for the Final at his home circuit there was obvious nerves, but the 14 year old had the foresight to know nothing is handed to you on a plate. Anything could go wrong.
Enaam got a perfect start avoiding the very difficult corners near the front. However his lead was short lived when Beckmann and Mick Junior eventually overtook him. Sitting comfortably in 3rd Enaam got the signal from his Team to overtake which he put into action. It was perfect timing Enaam powered his way into the lead and never looked back. Crossing the line in ecstatic fashion this victory would prove to be the sweetest of all. Enaam was the European Champion winning by a massive 24 point margin. This Title was earned the hard way as the exhilarated Champion commented “…I had to battle for this, so it feels much more special to be called European Champion”
Website: www.enaamahmed.co.uk
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