The Italian ACI Karting Championship in Val Vibrata had a tricky day due to the weather, but the competitiveness shown by the 160 drivers on track for this sixth round of the season has been exciting.
On the 1.050 meters long circuit in Abruzzo, eight categories battled out the two finals, namely KZ2, KZ3 Junior Under and Over, Iame X30 Junior and Senior, Rotax Junior and Max, and Naskart.
The most powerful category KZ2 saw Francesco Celenta (Praga-Tm) had the upper hand on Simone Cunati, who recovered very well from the difficulties experienced early into the weekend, while the third place deservedly went to Flavio Sani (Maranello-Tm), who led team mate Francesco Iacovacci, who was at the debut with Maranello Kart. A 10 place comeback earned Giuseppe Palomba (Intrepid-Tm) the fifth place, as he had a technical problem in a qualifying heat after posting the pole position. Palomba has been the main protagonist of the second final, as he managed to pull an authoritative win from Cunati. This win placed the driver from Naples on top of the classification, before the final round to be held in Castelletto on September 23rd. Former classification leader Giacomo Pollini (Formula K-Tm) had a troubled weekend and closed Race1 in 12th place after recovering 8 positions, and 16th in Race2. In the second Final, Davide Forè (BirelArt-Tm) was second behind Palomba, but a contact between Iacovacci and Cunati slowed down the Modena Kart driver who ended sixth. The third place went to Sani again, while Celenta settled for fourth, and a great Luigi Di Lorenzo (CRG-Tm) was fifth.
Surprising win for Federico Cecchi (Tony Kart-Iame) in Race1 in X30 Junior, since the two race leaders Edoardo Ludovico Villa (TB Kart-Iame) and Ugo Ugochukwu (Tony Kart-Iame) went off with one corner to go. The second position went to Leonardo Fornaroli (KR-Iame) who led Raffaele Gulizia (Tony Kart-Iame), Ugochukwu and Michael Barbaro Paparo (BirelArt-Iame). Race two went to Federico Albanese (Kosmic-Iame) instead, who was eighth in the first final. He was followed by a great Enzo Trulli (CRG-Iame), who put in a great fight, while Cecchi was again on the podium in P3.
In X30 Senior Leonardo Caglioni celebrated his debut with team Driver su KR-Iame taking a good win, proceeding classification leader Luigi Coluccio (BirelArt-Iame) and Aleksander Bardas (Top Kart-Iame). Danny Carenini (Tony Kart-Iame) was back to the victory in Race two after Adria, after coming fifth in race one in Val Vibrata behind Francesco Pagano (KR-Iame). The third place in the second race went to Mario Martucci (Maranello-Iame).
A victory each in KZ3 Junior was taken by Fabrizio Del Brutto (CRG-Tm) and Edoardo Tolfo (Formula K-Tm). The first final was characterized by heavy rain early on and Del Brutto led Roberto Cesari (Formula K-Tm) and Nicolò Zin (KR-Tm), while Tolfo led Del Brutto and Francesco Temperini (Tony Kart-Tm) in the second.
Emanuele Simonetti (Tony Kart-Tm) did not leave much room to his rivals in KZ3 Under and dominated the final from Michael Dalle Stelle (Maranello-Tm) to Filippo D’Attanasio (Formula K-Tm). Andrea Fortuna (Maranello-Tm) won the second final from the pole position, while Simonetti shone again completing a good comeback up to P2.The third place went to Riccardo Nalon (Formula K-Tm).
Heavy rain spoiled the first KZ3 Over final that was won by Marco Ruschioni (MacMinarelli-Tm), as Paolo Gagliardini (Maranello-Tm) and Jonni Loddo (CRG-Tm) completed the podium in the order. The second final went to Claudio Tempesti (CRG-Tm), who was penalized in Race1 due to the dropped front fairing, while he recovered in Race-2 taking the win from Sebastiano De Matteo (Intrepid-Tm), as Ruschioni was third. The other protagonist of the category, Roberto Profico (Tony Kart-Tm) retired from both finals.
A double win in Rotax Max was scored by Filippo Laghi (Tony Kart-Rotax), who led Andrea Zollino (Maranello Rotax) in Race1 and classification leader Davide Vuano (Praga-Tm) in Race2. Elia Galvanin (Exprit-Rotax) scored a double win in Rotax Junior instead.
The Naskart Trophy was dominated by Moreno Di Silvestre, who led Alessandro Brigatti in both finals. The third place of Race1 went to Lapo Nencetti, while the third step of the podium in Race2 went to Cristian Castelli.
CORRIERE DELLO SPORT. A special page with commentary, classifications and pictures will be published on Friday August 31st on the sports magazine Corriere dello Sport.
The next rounds of the Italian ACI Karting Championship:
7th round: September 14-16, 2018 – Pista Salentina, Torre San Giovanni, Ugento (Lecce)
Categories: 60 Mini, OK, OK-Junior, Iame X30, Rok.
8th round: Septmeber 21-23, 2018 – Circuito Internazionale 7 Laghi, Castelletto di Branduzzo (Pavia)
Categories: KZ2, KZ3, Rotax, Easykart, Naskart.
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In the pictures: 1) Start of KZ2 Race-1: Celenta and Sani in the front row; 2) KZ2 Race-2 winner Giuseppe Palomba; 3) Leonardo Caglioni, Iame X30 Senior.
