Patrick Njeim took his first win of the 2014 Lebanese Karting Championship season during the second round at the Pit Stop Karting Circuit in Zouk this afternoon. Patrick qualified on pole and managed to claim victory in both pre-final and final races.
He said: “I lead the whole time in the pre-final race; I wasn’t fastest, but I was trying to keep my time constant and it worked out. I had some pressure but it was fine. We started on a new set of tyres in the final race, and I managed to preserve them in the warm-up so I had a quick lap after the start which gave me sort of a good gap to keep me in front. I was struggling a bit with oversteer, but I just trying to keep my time constant and it worked out well.”
Winner of the first round Matthias Njeim enjoyed another successful weekend, finishing second behind his older brother and successfully defending his position from a surging Karl Massaad.
“I got past Karl [Massaad] in the pre-final race, and I had to defend my position throughout the race so Patrick and Samer [Mattar] pulled away and I finished third. Patrick, Karl and I changed tyres for the final race, so we had a bit more pace. All in all, I’m pleased with the result.” commented Matthias.
Karl Massaad endured a tough pre-final race as he collided with Joey Hajj and ended up last, but Massaad shone through in the final race, overtaking Michael Kanaan, Joey Hajj and Samer Mattar, to finish third, closely behind Matthias Njeim.
Karl explained: “I got the lead of the pre-final race on the first corner, and then I had a problem with the carburetor because Patrick hit me; the carburetor kept popping the whole time and it wasn’t working whenever I hit the throttle. In the final race, I passed Joey, Michael and Samer and I stayed behind Matthias till the end of the race.”
A collision with Karl Massaad in the pre-final race and poor grip in the final race saw Joey Hajj ultimately finish fifth behind Samer Mattar and ahead of rookie Michael Kanaan.