domenica 16 settembre 2018

The first final of the Italian ACI Karting Championship ended in Ugento

The titles of the Italian Championship went to Stenshorne in 60 Mini, Chiappini in OK-Junior, Coluccio in X30 Senior, Ferrari in Junior Rok, Delli Guanti in Senior Rok, Coluccio in Iame X30 Senior. Iame X30 Junior sub-judice. The second final will take place on September 23rd in Castelletto for categories KZ2, KZ3, Rotax, Easykart.
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The seventh round of the Italian ACI Karting Championship held on the Pista Salentina in Ugento on Sunday September 16th awarded the Italian titles in what was the closer for categories 60 Mini, OK-Junior, Rok and Iame X30 Trophies, that run two finals and very exciting races thanks also to the 1.5 coefficient that gave a further boost to the chances of getting on top of the classification.

At the end of the very tight finals all the way to the flag, the Italian titles went to the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (Parolin-Tm) in 60 Mini, to Tommaso Chiappini (Formula K-Tm) in OK-Junior, while Paolo Ferrari (Parolin-Vortex) became the new Italian Champion in Junior Rok, and the Italian title of Senior Rok following the missed creation of the category, went to Pietro Delli Guanti (Exprit-Vortex) who kept himself on top of the championship after the previous round held in Adria. In Iame X30 Senior Luigi Coluccio (BirelArt-Iame) was crowned as the new Italian Champion. The Iame X30 Junior classification is still sub-judice instead following an appeal filed by Francesco Pulito (Top Kart-Iame), who is fighting for the title with Edoardo Ludovico Villa (TB Kart-Iame).

 

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60 MINI. The most awaited race has been 60 Mini, where the title was battled out by the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (Parolin-Tm) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Energy-Tm), with the latter being a protagonist in Ugento since qualifying. Games were decided in the first final though, where the young Under 10 Ean Eyckman (Parolin-Tm) tried to slide in among the two. Stenshorne had the upper hand following some position changes with Antonelli and managed to close on top, while Antonelli and Eyckmans had a contact in the closing stages but crossed nevertheless the finish line respectively in P2 and P3. Antonelli was later on handed a 5s time penalty due to the contact, as happened to Eyckmans due to the dropped front fairing. The second place was therefore inherited by Flavio Olivieri (Energy-Tm) and the third by Alex Powell (Energy-Tm). Antonelli was pushed down to P7 and Eyckmans to P9. The title went to Martinius Stenshorne, who was leading the classification before this closing round. Antonelli managed to bounce back in Race2 claiming the victory as Stenshorne was second and a great Brando Badoer (Parolin-Tm) was third.

OK-JUNIOR. The OK-Junior title went to Tommaso Chiappini at the end of Race1, that he won leading Daniel Palermo, who attempted an attack on his teammate in the closing lap. The third place went to Carlo Calce, all on Formula K-Tm. Palermo won Race2 leading Chiappini and Salce.

ROK JUNIOR. The Italo-American Ugo Ugochuku (Tony Kart-Vortex) dominated Junior Rok winning both Finals. Ugochukwu won Race1 proceeding Raffaele Gulizia (Tony Kart-Vortex) and Paolo Ferrari (Parolin-Vortex), who managed to win the title thanks to the third place. Ugochukwu won Race2 proceeding Ferrari, as Gulizia closed again on the podium in P3. The fourth and fifth position went to Federico Cecchi and Rocco Mazzola, both on Tony Kart-Vortex.

IAME X30 JUNIOR. The first of the two Iame X30 Junior finals went to Francesco Pulito (Top Kart-Iame), who had the upper hand on classification leader Edoardo Ludovico Villa (TB Kart-Iame) as Leonardo Fornaroli (KR-Iame) was third. Pulito later on excluded from the classification due to a technical irregularity, but he filed an appeal and therefore the championship classification is sub judice. Pulito won again Race2, as Villa was second again and Lorenzo Patrese (KR-Iame) was third after leading the pack early on. Should he win the appeal, the Italian Championship would go to Francesco Pulito at 202,5 points, otherwise, Edoardo Ludovico Villa would be crowned Champion and was leading before the race of Ugento.

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IAME X30 SENIOR. Luigi Coluccio (BirelArt-Iame) won Iame X30 Senior thanks to the third place in Race1 and the second in Race2, following a troubled qualifying and an incident in one heat. Race1 victory went to Aleksander Bardas (Top Kart-Iame), who led Danny Carenini (CRG-Iame). Race2 went to Francesco Pagano (KR-Iame), who claimed the win after retiring from Race1 due to the failure of the drive chain. Pagano pipped Coluccio and Pio Francesco Sgobba (KR-Iame) at the flag.

Next weekend, on September 23rd, the International Circuit 7 Laghi of Castelletto di Branduzzo (Pavia) will stage the second final of the Italian ACI Karting Championship for categories KZ2, KZ3, Rotax and Easykart.

CORRIERE DELLO SPORT. A special page with commentary, classifications and pictures will be published on Friday September 21st on the sports magazine Corriere dello Sport.

ACI Sport S.p.A.
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In the pictures: 1) Antonelli’s victorious finish in 60 Mini’s Race1; 2) Race2 podium of 60 Mini, Antonelli between the new Italian Champion Martinius Stenshorne (on the left) and Brando Badoer (on the right); 3) X30 Junior podium with Francesco Pulito between Edoardo Ludovico Villa (on the left) and Lorenzo Patrese (on the right).