Patrick Njeim took his second consecutive victory of the season in round 3 of this year’s Lebanese Karting Championship. Patrick qualified second fastest behind Karl Massaad, but overtook his rival in the pre-final race and maintained the lead throughout the final race to clinch victory.
Patrick said that he was quite surprised with how he managed to move past Karl in the pre-final race: “Karl had a problem with overheating tyres and his pace got slower per lap so I managed to overtake him; it wasn’t expected, but I’m pretty impressed with how it worked out. In the final race I just had to block and keep the pace.”
Round 1 winner Micheal-Patrick Azar, who qualified third, finished the pre-final race in the same position, but a move on Karl Massaad in the final race was enough to hand him the runner-up spot. Michael-Patrick closed in on Patrick almost halfway into the final race but he couldn’t overtake.
“I didn’t have the momentum [to overtake Patrick]. I was getting closer and closer, but I just didn’t have that oomph. On the straight he would go a bit further, and then I’d try to overtake him in the corners, but I always thought that I would hit him, and I didn’t want to hit him.”
Karl Massaad showed impressive pace throughout the weekend, he snatched pole, but overheating tyres during the two races made him lose the lead to his rivals, and at some point in the final race, he hit Micheal-Patrick Azar which dented his front bumper. “In the final race I hit Michael-Patrick’s car and my front bumper kept hitting the ground; but I think I’ll be able to keep up with the others in the upcoming races.”
Disadvantaged by his lack of new tyres and older kart, Joey Hajj crossed the finish line 16 seconds behind third-placed Karl Massaad, nevertheless, he is showing signs of progress with each round.
Final Race Results - Max Category Pos. Driver Time/Gap 01. Patrick Njeim 17:08.734 02. Micheal-Patrick Azar +1.477 03. Karl Massaad +1.900 04. Joey Hajj +16.667