Tanart Sathienthirakul of Thailand started the CIK-FIA European KF2 Championship final on pole position and took the chequered flag in first place but was dropped to 10th place after a 10 second penalty was handed to him for exceeding the authorised speed during the start of the race. Sami Luka finished the race in 2nd and was promoted to European Champion.
The rule in question from the CIK-FIA Sporting Regulations:
2.20 – Starting procedure
Rolling starts for direct drive karts with or without clutches
At the end of the Formation Lap, Drivers will proceed forward at a reduced and constant speed or, if the circuit is equipped with a speed control system, at a speed of 30 kph minimum to 50 kph maximum towards the Starting Line, lined up in two lines of karts, and each line shall remain within the lanes marked on the track.
A Driver crossing the lanes is liable to be sanctioned by the Stewards, on the basis of a time penalty of 3 seconds for partly crossing the lanes and of 10 seconds for completely getting out of the corridor. A Driver failing to respect the required speed during the approach to the start Line is liable to be sanctioned by the Stewards, on the basis of a time penalty of 1 second per extra km/h, with a maximum penalty of 10 seconds.
From cikfia.com:
The final of the CIK-FIA European KF2 Championship was full of suspense and rebounds. With one single decisive final to award the European crown, tension was running high at the start. Having clinched pole position thanks to his success in the Pre-Final, did Tanart Sathienthirakul (Tony Kart-TM) handle this tension badly? The young Thai (competing with an Irish licence) in fact exceeded the maximum authorised speed during the start, and received a 10 seconds penalty putting him way back into 10th place. Having fought his way up during several laps to rid himself of the pack, the Belgian Sami Luka (Energy-TM) was up in the wake of the Thai driver and finally grabbed the title, which he had been running after for several seasons.
On the second tread of the podium, the Spaniard Carlos Gil (Tony Kart-Vortex) was almost as happy as if he had won. On a track which he knows like the back of his hand, Carlos also continued the family tradition. Back in 1991, in fact exactly 20 years ago, his father – with the same first name – also became European Vice-Champion in the same category (known as ICA, in those days)…
The podium was completed by the Danish driver Andreas Hansen (Maranello-Maranello), who drove an excellent race which saw him go from 31st place on the grid – as the result of a broken engine in the Pre-Final – up to an incredible 3rd place when he took the chequered flag. Further down we have the Top 10 with the British driver Sam Macleod (FA Kart-Vortex), the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (PCR-Parilla), the Spaniard Gerard Barrabeig (Birel-BMB), the Russian Egor Orudshev (Tony Kart-Vortex), the Frenchman Victor Sendin (Tony Kart-Vortex) and the unfortunate Tanart Sathienthirakul.