For Felix Nilsson, the South European Trophy in Varennes-sur-Allier had a special importance. Organised in France by the CIK/FIA - the International karting federation - this meeting was intended to select the group of candidates admitted to the next European Championship, this summer. It was a mission accomplished for the Swedish young driver, who did not take long to join the group of the best drivers in KF3.

In France on 29 - 30 April and 1 May 2011, Felix Nilsson did more than just confirming his evident progression in major international races at the start of the season. Increasingly involved and focussed on this sport that he only discovered at the start of last year, the Swedish driver impressed for his ability in analysing his races, learn lessons from them and become even stronger the following meeting.
"Since the beginning of the season, Felix has showed some great racing improvements and has often been able to rival with the leaders in terms of performances", his coach Marc Wolhauser commented. "But he knew he had to improve in time qualifying. For example, he was disappointed he could not score a better result because of that at the WSK Euro Series in Portimao (Portugal) in April. But he got the situation back on the right track at the South European Trophy. He had some excellent qualifying heats, including a third place, before he concluded his best race since the beginning of the season". Indeed, Felix moved up from 27th to 13th during the final, winning hands down his precious qualification for the European Championship.

From north to south...

Of Swedish origins, more specifically from the Stockholm region, Felix Nilsson lives most of the time in Switzerland and for this reason he races with a Swiss license. This is why he entered the South European Trophy in France, and not the North European in England. He took full advantage of this CIK meeting to brilliantly qualify for the final stage of the European Championship, where this ambitious driver is still determined to show that he can aim higher and higher...

Constant Progress Race after Race

Although he still lacks some experience in high-level racing, Felix Nilsson knows he can count on the competence of LM Karting team. "It is very interesting to help a young driver such as Felix because he has to learn a lot of things in a very short time", Ludovic Miretti, his team manager said. "A start in KF3 without experience is a really difficult challenge, but he has taken it very seriously and he is looking forward to reaching the top as soon as possible. In early April, for example, the group of participants was excellent, both in terms of quantity and quality, during the meeting of the WSK Master Series in Castelletto di Branduzzo (Italy) He did not do better than a 48th finish in time qualifying, but concluded a clean race during the qualifications and joined the 34 finalists. It was a pity that he was not equally successful afterwards".