New Winners at the DEKM-Premiere in Mülsen

Theo Kekati and Luca Nieuwenhuizen celebrate final victories
DEKM within the Rotax MAX Challenge Germany for the first time
Changing weather on racing Sunday

Last weekend, the German Electric Kart Championship (DEKM) broke new ground. For the first time, the drivers from eight nations started at the Arena E in Mülsen. During the races, there were lots of fights for positions – Theo Kekati from the United Arab Emirates and Dutchman Luca Nieuwenhuizen were the happy winners.

Four weeks after the season kick-off at the Prokart Raceland Wackersdorf, the DEKM traveled on to Saxony. The 1.315m long track of the Arena E in Mülsen was the location of the second racing weekend of the Rotax MAX Challenge Germany. The DEKM was a guest within the framework of this series for the first time. The field of participants of the innovative electric kart racing series was an international one again – drivers from eight nations started.

Perfect Saturday for Theo Kekati

Theo Kekati experienced a perfect racing Saturday. The driver from the United Arab Emirates won qualifying and held his ground against his opponents during the pre-final and final as well. He was accordingly content in the evening: “There's not much to say. We had a perfect day today and I'm very happy about the victory.”

After a clear success in the pre-final with an advance of more than three seconds on his pursuers Luca Nieuwenhuizen from the Netherlands and Frenchman Oscar Pellemele, the final race got really exciting. The trio set the pace again this time: Polesetter Kekati won the start but had to let Pellemele and Nieuwenhuizen pass him by shortly after. The three stayed closely together, so that the decision was only made in the last lap. Theo Kekati was on second place again and took his chance shortly before the finish line. Due to a fair maneuver, he overtook Pellemele and won in front of the Frenchman. Luca Nieuwenhuizen completed the podium on third position.

Luca Nieuwenhuizen achieves double victory on Sunday

Oscar Pellemele led the Championship after qualifying on Sunday morning. The weather played an important role at the pre-final. It started on the dry track but then started to rain shortly after. Race control decided to interrupt the race. At the re-start, all drivers were equipped with rain tires and seven exciting laps were still waiting. Nieuwenhuizen took the lead early on and won triumphantly in front of Wackersdorf-winner Aleksi Jalava and Jens van der Heijden.

For the final race, the track had dried again and Pellemele took the lead during the first few laps. He drove off a bit during the further course of the race, but a small mistake of the Frenchman pushed the field closer together again. Seven drivers fought for victory and in the end, Nieuwenhuizen prevailed again and won in front of Pellemele and Jalava. After the exciting Sunday races, the winner was in a great mood in his interview: “That was a hard-fought victory. Things were really close until the end, we were all very close together and had great fights – it was a lot of fun.”

ORF-Formula-1-expert Corinna Kamper in E-kart for the first time

The VIP kart was driven by Austrian race driver Corinna Kamper this weekend. She drove an electric kart for the first time and performed well. She finished the Sunday final on a good seventh place. Since this year, Kamper has been working for the ORF as an expert in the Formula 1 show Motorhome.

DEKM starts second half of the year in Belgium

In three weeks (July 30^th – August 1^st), the DEKM is already going to continue. Then, the electric kart racing series is going to take place within the German Kart Championship (DKM) on the international top track in Belgian Genk. In the Championship, everything is still possible after four final races. The ranking is currently led by the Frenchman Oscar Pellemele (120 points). Close behind is Aleksi Jalava (114 points), followed by Mülsen Sunday winner Luca Nieuwenhuizen (87 points).

Extract from the championship ranking DEKM after 4 of 8

Final runs: