On day five of the 2024 Formula Kite European Championship in Mar Menor, Spain, Max Maeder SPG and Lauriane Nolot FRA took a step closer to winning back their European titles from two years ago.
In the first race of the men’s session, Great Britain’s Connor Bainbridge pushed Maeder all the way down the final run of the two-lap race to no avail, the fleet frequently exceeding speeds of 33 knots, sometimes more than 35, hitting double the speed of the wind.
In the men, Max Maeder with four more wins earned a well-deserved place in the four-rider final on Sunday afternoon where he will be joined by France’s Axel Mazella who finished second at the end of Gold Fleet racing.
Connor Bainbridge and Valentin Bontus AUT are the best of the rest and will hold the upper hand in their respective Semi Finals. But the whole nature of the Formula Kite Medal Series means that anyone who has made it this far, can still take the ultimate prize.
In the women, Lauriane Nolot was almost as dominant as Maeder, winning the first three heats but narrowly losing out in a last-race battle with fellow French rider Poema Newland.
This means that Nolot and Newland go straight through to the four-rider final of the women’s Medal Series.
Britain’s Ellie Aldridge and the rest of the top 10 women will have to fight their way out of the Semi Final stages.
But this is the principle of the whole Formula Kite Medal Series, which alllows anyone who has made it this far, can still take the ultimate prize.
Women 2024 Formula Kite Europeans – 8 final races (51 entries)
1st FRA 131 Lauriane Nolot – – 1 1 1 2 – – 20 pts
2nd FRA 98 Poema Newland – – 4 2 2 1 – – 31 pts
3rd FRA 125 Jessie Kampman – – 2 3 3 -13 – – 38 pts
4th GBR 154 Eleanor Aldridge – – 5 6 5 4 – – 56 pts
5th SUI 34 Elena Lengwiler – – 10 10 -15 3 – – 79 pts
6th GBR 110 Lily Young – – 8 -14 12 5 – – 94 pts
7th ISR 87 Gal Zukerman – – -19 5 -14 6 – – 95 pts
8th USA 152 Daniela Moroz – – 3 24 4 7 – – 96 pts
9th GBR 161 Katie Dabson – – 7 4 10 14 – – 111 pts
10th ITA 15 Maggie Eillen Pescetto – – 6 9 8 12 – – 114 pts
Men 2024 Formula Kite Europeans – 8 final races (86 entries)
1st SGP 37 Maximilian Maeder (U21) (U19) – – 1 1 1 1 – – 17 pts
2nd FRA 138 Axel Mazella – – 4 5 3 -26 – – 44 pts
3rd GBR 59 Connor Bainbridge – – 2 -15 4 5 – – 49 pts
4th AUT 78 Valentin Bontus – – 7 2 2 13 – – 50 pts
5th BRA 148 Bruno Lobo – – -23 10 7 3 – – 65 pts
6th ITA 45 Riccardo Pianosi (U21) – – -26 4 13 15 – – 65 pts
7th CRO 73 Martin Dolenc – – 9 -20 9 -21 – – 89 pts
8th FRA 89 Benoit Gomez – – 3 9 6 10 – – 100 pts
9th GER 126 Jannis Maus – – 12 7 12 8 – – 100 pts
10th POL 48 Maksymilian Zakowski – – 11 12 10 2 – – 113 pts
