MAD Performance made clear progress at the second round of the ADAC Kart Masters on the Schweppermannring. In high summer temperatures and bright sunshine, the team entered four drivers across the Mini, OK-N Junior and OK-N categories. Charlotte Tille and Luca Tafelmeier impressed in particular with strong pace, while karting newcomers Vincent Stiffel and Luca Mattis Brixius continued to take important steps forward.
The team’s best final result came from Charlotte Tille in OK-N. After qualifying 17th, she worked her way steadily forward throughout the weekend. She gained four positions in the opening heat to finish 13th, before improving again to eleventh in the second heat. As a result, Charlotte was already up to tenth place after the heats.
She continued her positive progress on Sunday. The MAD Performance driver finished ninth in the Super Heat and consequently moved up to eighth in the Final Intermediate Classification. Starting from the fourth row, she remained in contention around the top ten throughout the decisive race. Charlotte narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish in eleventh place, but confirmed one of her strongest OK-N weekends to date with good pace and a consistent performance.
Luca Tafelmeier also impressed for much of the weekend in OK-N Junior. With ninth place in qualifying, he immediately began the event inside the top ten. However, five-second front-fairing penalties in both heats dropped him back. Despite those setbacks, he remained within immediate reach of the leading group in eleventh place in the intermediate ranking.
Luca confirmed his consistent performance with twelfth place in the Super Heat and started the final from eleventh. However, his hopes of another strong result ended with a retirement during the opening phase of the race.
Vincent Stiffel is currently completing his first season in karting. As a result, gaining experience and making continuous progress remain his main priorities. On Sunday, Vincent made a clear step forward and worked his way up to 16th place in the Super Heat. He then finished the final in 20th position and scored his first ADAC Kart Masters championship point.
The situation is similar for Luca Mattis Brixius in Mini, who is also contesting his first full season in karting. He qualified 15th before responding with a determined performance in Sunday’s Super Heat. Luca gained further positions in the Mini final and took the chequered flag in 17th place. In doing so, he collected additional championship points and valuable race mileage in Ampfing.
Team principal Max Hesse drew a positive conclusion: “We saw good development from all four drivers this weekend. Charlotte was consistently quick and worked her way from qualifying up to eighth on the final grid. It was one of her strongest weekends so far and shows that we are heading in the right direction. Luca also had top-ten pace in OK-N Junior, but unfortunately his final was brought to an end right at the start. Vincent and Luca Mattis are both in their first season of karting. For them, it is initially about gaining experience and progressing step by step. That development is clearly visible. Developing young drivers requires patience, but that is exactly the journey we want to take together with them.”
The team founded by BMW works drivers Dan Harper and Max Hesse will return to Ampfing as early as Friday, when it takes on the international field of the German Kart Championship.
