P3 for wunderkid Anelisse Ionașcu, as she gets her new season underway
It was a pretty great day for racing last weekend. The sun was shining at the Titi Aur Academy, the parents were restless as usual and the karts were ready to go. And so was our wunderkid, Anelisse Ionașcu, who is racing at the MiniWatt class this season. Last year, at only 9 years of age, Ane won the Championship at the MacroWatt level, while competing against boys older than her. This year she’s aiming for the same kind of results, but things are not getting any easier for her.
So we had to be there for her while she battled in her first race of the season. And what a treat it was!
But first things first: Anelisse is racing on the same electric kart as last season, but with an upgraded engine to make the switch from the “MicroWatts”. A couple of weeks ago, while practicing on the track, two karts ran into her by mistake and apparently the kart suffered some damage. Ane was a bit bruised as well, but nothing major. The damage to the kart is usually tough to spot and fix, but the engineers at the TTA did their best.
The qualies on Sunday were a tough ask for all participants because the wind was blowing relentlessly. As George Costanza would put it, the wind was angry that day my friends. But Anelisse found the right paths throughout the laps and managed a P2 to start the race. It was business as usual. Or so it seemed.
As she got into her ”42” kart for the First Final, she knew she had to fight off Rusu at #3 who had the inside lane. But she didn’t. On one hand, the kart did not take off as it as it did in practice while prepping the season. On the other hand, Anelisse should have probably kept her straight path and not steer for the block right from the getgo. Seconds were lost. She ended up conceding her spot, but fought like hell to stay close to the top. Which she did, even though she was almost thrown off the track by #50 Tăriceanu, while brawling in the 4th lap. Anelisse finished with a P3, so things were looking up, even though she exited the kart quite unhappy with the incident.
#EyesOnTheTrack