Matthias Njeim emerged as the winner of the Max category in the first round of the 2014 Lebanese Karting Championship following an exciting four-way battle for the lead between himself, Samer Mattar, Karl Massaad and older brother Patrick Njeim.
Samer Mattar qualified on pole and fended off heavy pressure from Karl Massaad during the pre-final race to claim victory, but an off moment on the first lap of the final race saw him drop to last position, leaving Matthias Njeim, Patrick Njeim and Karl Massaad in the fight for the win.
Race leader Matthias Njeim was then chased by Karl Massaad, but the latter spun while trying to overtake, thus dropping to fifth place. It was then Patrick Njeim’s turn to put pressure on his brother, but he was unable to overtake. Matthias eventually clinched the final race victory, followed by his brother Patrick in P2, and a resurgent Karl Massaad in P3.
“Samer had new tyres on in the final race, and the tyres usually have a layer that’s very slippery, so I touched him a little bit and he went off, although it wasn’t my intention. Karl [Massaad] was very fast, and I thought he was going to win the race easily, but then he tried passing me on the inside [of turn 4], which is very dusty, and he spun.” said Matthias in a post-race interview.
Patrick Njeim endured a tough weekend; he was disqualified from qualifying because the rear end of his car was half a centimeter too wide, but a fourth place in the pre-final race paved the way for a great second place in the final race.
Patrick said: ”We got new engines just last week and we had one testing session under the rain, so we couldn’t really tune them up and we’re still struggling with lack of power. It was good race; the greatest competition was Karl who passed me after the third lap, but he spun out and I was able to pass him. In the last few laps I caught up with my brother but I couldn’t overtake.”
Karl Massaad was arguably the fastest man on track in the final race, but an early spin put him out of contention for the win; the young driver told Biser3a.com: “I was fastest the whole time. I tried passing Matthias but he stayed tight; I couldn’t pass him and I spun, so then Joey [Hajj], Karl [Khadra] and Patrick [Njeim] passed me, then I re-overtook Joey and Karl. I was still fastest but they [Matthias and Patrick] were too far ahead.”
Final Race Results - Max Category Pos. Driver Time/Gap 01. Matthias Njeim 02. Patrick Njeim +00.138 03. Karl Massaad +03.058 04. Karl Khadra +04.254 05. Joey Hajj +05.725 06. Lucien George +13.675 07. Samer Mattar +14.647 08. Michael Kanaan +37.078