It was with a bit of disappointment, but also with the awareness of having made every possible effort, that Dorian Boccolacci left England, after conquering a 3rd place in the European KF3 Championship, tied on points with the second. The drop in performance experienced by his kart when the rain stopped was long made up for by his sense of the attack, but he lost all the chances to hold off his formidable opponents until the end when one of his tyres burst during the decisive races. Luckily, race mishaps did in no way diminish the value unanimously recognised of this iRace Professionnal driver.

Dorian Boccolacci has now joined the group of the best drivers in the world. A few months ago, he stepped up to a new level in karting. He is now more mature, capable of anticipating and managing complex race conditions and he is not the kind of person who gets scared when pressure is high. A candidate for the European title, he was out of the race for the title owing to the drop in performance of his kart, though he never made mistakes, remained focussed and gave his best from the beginning of each race. This is something indisputable and nobody can deny that he is now in the drivers' elite.

The analysis of his results during the English round of the European KF3 Championship is enlightening on this aspect. During timed qualifying, the rain soaked the highly technical and very difficult circuit of PFI. Dorian started in the first group and set the fastest lap time, with a 0.6 second lead over the second driver, which is really a lot. Due to grip variations during the 4 series, he finished 4th in the general standings. The track was still wet during his first qualifying heat, which he won with the fastest time.

Then the rain stopped over Lincolnshire and Dorian's Intrepid/TM lost its lustre. Nobody knows what really happened, given all the parameters involved at this level: it could have been the chassis, the engine, the tyres, the adjustments ...impossible to know. Despite all possible efforts on the part of the team, the problem could not be solved during the weekend. Performances deteriorated suddenly after mounting a new set of tyres, so that could provide a clue. Despite everything, Dorian won 3 out of 4 heats, but his times revealed that he was 0.3-0.6 seconds behind the fastest drivers. On a dry track, it is a huge gap in karting. How did he manage to win his races despite a kart so much slower than his rivals'? It is a mystery that maybe can be explained with his stunning ability!

On Sunday, his team's worst fears materialised during warm-up: speed was still lacking. In the first of two decisive races, the driver from "Equipe de France FFSA Karting" limited the damage in second place, though he could not hold off the winning sprint of the reigning champion, the Briton George Russell, in his homeland at PFI. When Dorian crossed the finish line, the team realised that one of the tyres had burst. The only solution was to replace it with a tyre that had already been used during practice. At that point, he was no longer able to defend his chances. Race 2 was an ordeal for him: somehow he was third up to lap 9, then he was bumped into from all sides and dropped down to 13th. He drew on his remaining strength to regain ground towards the end of the race and crossed the finish line 8th. Tied on points with the second driver, perhaps Dorian regretted the race he lost at Varennes when he was collided into by a team mate.

But regret is not a feeling that Boccolacci likes. For Dorian, a second or third place in a Championship does not make much difference, what really matters is victory. Together with his family, he will now try to find a solution to compete without problems in the forthcoming races, the most important of which, the World Cup, will be held in late September on the Spanish circuit of Zuera that he knows well.