I’m reaching a turning point in my young international karting career, racing in the Champions of the Future Academy Program.
I’m 15, and this is already my third season: local, national, international… Things have moved fast.
After Viterbo, Italy, where I had some strong results in qualifying and the heats — P4, P7, etc. — testing at Aspar, near Valencia in Spain, started really well: 5 sessions, 4 times in the TOP 5, and one P8. 22 drivers, all racing in the same conditions.
The reigning champion of this international 14–17 championship even started copying some of my setup — something his mechanic admitted to us, as they were right next to us — because, apparently, “she’s fast.”
I’ve known for the past two years that I can be fast.
At the beginning of last season, at Franciacorta in Italy, I was already setting the fastest time in free practice at the Swiss Championship.
But this time, I was expected to be fast.
And that changes everything.
I missed my qualifying — P11 and P15 — which meant starting far back on a track where there is basically only one real place to overtake… at full speed.
So if you want to move forward, you have to take risks.
Big risks.
I finished P9 in the first heat.
But I didn’t come here to finish ninth.
I want to fight at the front.
So on the second day, I had to take more risks. My Swiss teammate Elias Lehmann gave us a huge scare on Saturday with an extremely violent crash.
In the pre-final, I held my position until I made contact with the Brazilian driver, a champion in her home country.
We both ended up in the gravel.
And my kart took a lot of damage.
There was no time to replace everything that needed replacing before the final. I had to race with a kart that was losing almost one second per lap.
Mission impossible.
But I fought and defended until the very end.
I’ll remember my P11 in Saturday’s final.
And the huge disappointment of Sunday.
But more than anything, I’ll remember the lesson.
Being fast isn’t enough anymore.
Now I need to start at the front.
Race at the front.
Fight at the front.
And most importantly, learn how to stay there.
A new chapter begins…
