As the drizzle descended at the Motorsportarena Mülsen this morning, drivers navigated a drying track during qualifying practice which upset the orders and injected a fresh challenge for the drivers to navigate.

The battle for the OK title continues to intensify as Baglin tripped up during qualifying to leave him behind in the order. In Junior, with Miron Lorente, Perico and Green are all in the top four setting the stage for a close battle over the remainder of the weekend.

In Academy Senior, Sarp Kayol from Türkiye set the best time this afternoon to take pole position ahead of tomorrow's heats.

This afternoon, track running was suspended due to a track incident. The FIA is conducting a precautionary full track inspection this evening with full running scheduled for tomorrow.

OK

As qualifying practice got underway this morning, drivers familiar with the wet conditions looked to bank an early advantage as an initially drying track followed by a light rain shower opened up opportunities to get ahead of the championship favourites.

Noah Baglin's effort to clinch the European title during the third round here in Germany got off to a shaky start as the Brit struggled to master the circuit during qualifying practice and eventually set a time subsequently deleted for track limits. This leaves Baglin with considerable work to do this weekend if he is to clinch the title here.

Baglin's closest championship rival, Zac Drummond, hit the track during the second session to mount a charge for pole. Drummond left his best lap time until the final seconds of the session as he put his best effort in, only to narrowly miss out on provisional pole with William Calleja setting a blistering 1.03.124 and the time that was ultimately unmatched.

Dean Hoogendoorn, who has faced difficulty in qualifying during the first two rounds, had a far better result during his third attempt to place second in his qualifying group and sixth overall, momentum he'll be pushing to carry into the rest of his weekend.

Niklas Schaufler, the remaining championship hopeful, placed 17th after qualifying and with ground to make up through the heats. Elsewhere, Asher Ochstein delivered a quality qualifying performance to place in second and local hope Luke Kornder finished quickest in his qualifying group to place in third overall as qualifying heats began this afternoon.

Polesitter Calleja defended his advantage expertly this afternoon, building a lead of over six seconds in his first heat. Hoogendoorn, meanwhile, got off to a flying start in the heats to take the first chequered flag of the afternoon as Baglin gained spots behind him to finish in seventh place as he commences his fightback to the top.

Zac Drummond also got off to a perfect start in his afternoon heat to overtake Kornder and claim maximum points, making Baglin's task even harder this weekend. Heats continue tomorrow morning.

Junior

The close championship table has upped the pressure on every remaining qualifying, heat and race over the final two rounds. When the Junior drivers hit the track for qualifying practice this morning it was Remigiusz Samczyk who set the early pace on a drying track, setting a mighty time of 1.03.743, 0.35 seconds quicker than current championship leader Will Green.

Previous race winner, Miron Lorente, hunted down Samczyk's time during the second session, steadily building pace to top his group but remained over 0.7 seconds off the Polish driver's time set in the first session but takes prime spot in group B.

As the final qualifying group went out onto a now rain-soaked track, Girardello, who sits third in the current standings, was favourite to steal the prime spot for the heats but struggled to pull his lap together, crossing the line half a second off the pace.

Perico crossed the line to lay down the best time during the final session with only weather conditions preventing him from mounting a charge on Samczyk's impressive time that secured him pole position for this afternoon's heat.

Oskari Walle and Many Nuvolini, who share the other top spots in the standings, failed to light up the timings, having to accept 32nd and 22nd position after qualifying. Previous polesitters Priam Bruno and Antoine Sylva Venant both also found the conditions difficult to master today as they struggled to repeat their qualifying performances from Italy and Spain. They started the heats in 19th and 48th respectively.

Henri Moehring placed as the quickest of the junior Germans racing on home soil in 10th position while Julian Frasnelli was ultimately disqualified from qualifying due to a pre-grid incident that has seriously dented his weekend hopes.

Polesitter Samczyk meanwhile stretched his advantage during the heats today, racing to a six-second lead over Pizzonia in his first heat of the weekend which also saw Miron Lorente fall back to an on-form Priam Bruno who picked up his performance this afternoon.

Will Green banked an early overtake on Perico during his first heat to support the defence of his championship lead as Nuvolini bounced back behind to gain five spots and relight his weekend campaign. Perico, however, held on during his second heat to leave him in a strong position headed into the full day of heats tomorrow.

Steady rainfall got the better of several drivers throughout the afternoon with turn one cutting short many drivers' heats. Frasnelli, however, turned the conditions to his advantage to demonstrate his versatility and adaptability, surging 22 places in his first heat to cross the line in fifth after starting from the back.

Academy Junior

Three free practice session helped guide the Academy drivers through the changeable track conditions today before qualifying practice began to set the Academy grids this afternoon.

Alexis Genolet from Switzerland took the advantage in qualifying to bank a half second advantage in the early stages of qualifying only to be knocked off the top spot by Boaz Maximov from the Netherlands.

Moments after Genolet retook his provisional pole, Filip Planeta from the Czech Republic put together a masterful lap in the closing seconds of the session to take the top spot of the first group with a tenth of a second advantage over Genolet.

As the second qualifying group went out, it was Planeta's time to beat as glimmers of sunshine began to emerge through the clouds above. The drying track fell to the advantage of the second group as the times began to tumble in the closing minutes of the session and a dry line emerged.

Sarp Kayol from Türkiye emerged on top in the second session with a 1.04.163 time over 3 tenths quicker than Michal Zajac from Poland behind him and almost a second faster than the time set by Planeta. Oliver Kurg from Estonia was ultimately unable to mount a challenge on the top spots after a strong performance in the first round.

Jose Bautista Delich from Argentina started his weekend well this afternoon to end the day in sixth position while Albie Lapper had a less successful start to his weekend, having to settle for 16th position.

Action resumes at the Motorsportarena Mülsen circuit tomorrow, Saturday 12 June, with the continuation of qualifying heats. You can watch all the action LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube channel from 10:15 CET.

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View Friday's results

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