Third round of the season and last appointment before the summer break, the Essay GPO was met with success in Normandy. The group of participants was again of good level, especially because new experienced drivers joined the GPOs for the occasion. World WTCC Champion Yvan Muller came to meet the "Equipe de France FFSA Karting", of which he has now become the new captain, while Jean-Pierre Beltoise, a major figure of French car sport, assisted for the first time to a high level karting event. Undoubtedly the GPOs attract an increasing number of passionate fans.

The Essay GPO had a distinctive feature, in that it hosted drivers from the Florida Winter Tour (an American series), in the framework of a partnership between the two championships concluded between Bill Wright, the FWT promoter, and Thierry Germanovitch, the GPO promoter. Brazilian Victor Pedrosa (KF2) and American Nick Neri (KF3) joined Andrick Zeen, a GPO loyal supporter since the debut, at Essay. On the other hand, the KF2 also saw an increase in public attendance thanks to the presence of foreign drivers, who came to the meeting to train for the European Championship. Evidently, the GPOs have nothing to envy to major international series as far as the competition level is concerned.

This GPO had its share of heroes. Thomas Mich (Birel/TM) became a member of that group after his double victory, one on Saturday's final and the other one the following day. Although he finished third in the provisional ranking, Thomas took on the role of strongman in KZ2. However, it was Norman Nato (Intrepid/TM) who proved to be the fastest on track. But the championship leader could not exploit his full potential in race and had to content with a second place in the final. Anthony Abbasse (Sodi/TM) proved to be both fast and reliable, just as usual. After a very intense fight, Yannick Savard (CRG/Maxter) conquered one of the pre-finals, but was struck by bad luck. Just like Mathias Gallepe, one of the fastest in Super Pole, who fell victim of the black cat curse in race…

As for younger drivers, Jonathan Hélias (Tony Kart/Vortex) was back in shape and a pleasure to look at. On his new chassis, Jo showed his full potential in two occasions: after winning Saturday's final, he added some suspense by abandoning the pre-final on Sunday, but he successfully recovered all the lost ground and climbed up from the last to the first place. This exceptional result should not obscure Alex Baron's (Tony Kart/Vortex) performance, in constant progression on the Norman track, who concluded with a superb victory in the final. Indeed, he is not the Championship leader by accident! A new arrival in GPO, Mathieu Jaminet is a habitué of WSK. He showed his speed, but also had to fight against a strong group of rivals. Fast acclimation for Nick Neri, who reached the top 10 several times.

Sébastien Bailly (Tony Kart/Vortex) triumphed on Sunday in the KF2 final, after a very intense fight. This result is particularly important with a view to the European round, in August. Loïc Réguillon (Sodi/Parilla) reached the first step of the podium on Saturday and was back to second place in the provisional ranking. To conclude, Paul-Loup Chatin (Tony Kart/Vortex) recovered well after his setbacks on the first day. The category did not spare either exploits or favourites, but constantly changing track conditions and the great experience of GPO habitués got the better of foreign drivers, who could only show hints of their talent at Essay.

Next GPO will be held at Ostricourt, on 2, 3 and 4 October 2009.