Foster-Jones' Essay takes him to Europe
Rocket Rob qualifies for European championship finals

In only his 3rd year of kart racing, Robert Foster-Jones has made it through to the winner-takes-all European kart championship finals at Salbris, France (5 August).

Competing at the Essay track, in Normandy (14/15 July) - one of the Europe’s best – Robert joined 60 other drivers from across Western Europe for the qualifying race. In Timed Qualifying, and despite not knowing the circuit lay-out as well as the French racers, Robert posted the 3rd fastest time overall. With a front-row grid position for his first heat, Foster-Jones was ideally placed to avoid the usual, first-corner crash - which inevitably took place - but a mistake forced him off the racing line and onto the ‘marbles’ – tiny bits of rubber and dust that dirty the tyres and make the handling of the kart difficult. Dropping down the order, Rob had to work hard to clean his tyres before charging back to a respectable 14th place. 

In the 2nd race he made no such mistake and finished 2nd. This was followed - ironically in the third heat - with 3rd place. The RFM driver ranked 9th overall at the Intermediate Classification stage – giving him 9th on the starting grid for Sunday’s crucial finals. 

In bearably hot conditions for the first of the day’s two finals (unlike at last year’s qualifiers in Portugal, where mechanics were pouring bottles of water into the drivers racesuits to cool them down before races) Robert sensibly stayed out of trouble and brought his Fernando Alonso kart home in 9th.

With so much at stake for many drivers now in danger of not making the cut, the second final was always going to see fireworks. As the pack of 31 karts plunged into the first corner, Robert saw fellow 100cc PR client Richard Bradley ahead of him, t-boned by an out of control French driver. This caused mayhem and Robert had to take avoiding action and lost places. However, he was able to take the chequered flag in 16th place - knowing he’d done everything necessary to qualify for the biggest race of his life.

He said, “I’m very happy to be going (to Salbris) but with the speed I had, I should’ve been higher.” Hopefully at Salbris, things will be a little calmer.”

But after the high of making it through to the finals, was there a low point? “Well, it was reasonably hot all weekend and I didn’t pack my shorts, so I was a bit silly there”. If that’s his biggest concern, we could well see an Essex-based European champion in August.

With barely any time to recover, Robert and his RFM team head to Val Vibrata, Italy for the final round of the Italian Open Masters championship (22 July).