World Karting Championship: Good deal for De Vries and Camponeschi –from CIK-FIA

The fourth round of the KF1 World Championship at Sarno boasted its usual surprises and loads of suspense. Winner of the two Races on Saturday, Nyck De Vries (Zanardi-Parilla) appeared to be going out for a perfect weekend having clinched another pole position on Sunday morning.

However, this time around the Dutchman missed his start and only came through the first bend in 6th place. Having climbed back into 3rd spot after three laps, he was then let down by his engine and had to throw in the towel. Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart-Vortex) could not have asked for more. Having got the better of the Pole Karol Basz (RK-BMB), he took off for his second win of the season.

Taking the chequered flag in second place, Felice Tiene (CRG-Maxter) was excluded after the race for a technical non-conformity, which allowed Ignazio D’Agosto (Tony Kart-Vortex) to score the points of second place ahead of the Belgian Sébastien Bailly (Kosmic-Vortex), with a good climb up through the pack from 15th place of the grid, with Zdenek Groman (Kosmic-Vortex), Libor Toman (Birel-BMB) and Alex Albon (Intrepid-TM), not being able to take full advantage of De Vries’ retirement.

The fourth and final Race at the foot of the Vesuvius was an entirely different scenario with a highly inspired Alex Albon at the start who appeared to be going off towards victory. But this was without counting on Flavio Camponeschi, in top form in front of his home crowd. Slowly reducing the gap with the Brit, the Italian grabbed the lead some four laps from the finish. And this whilst Karol Basz managed to claim the last tread of the podium ahead of the Czech Zdenek Groman.

Further back there was an excellent battle for 5th place between the Japanese driver Yu Kanamaru (Tony Kart-Vortex), Nyck De Vries, back up from 17th place, Sébastien Bailly, the Frenchman Léo Roussel (Sodi-Parilla) and Ignazio D’Agosto. After some brilliant racing these five drivers crossed the line in the same order and all within the same second. Nyck de Vries limited the damage for the championship thanks to points scored with this 6th place. Better than that, he has increased his lead over Alex Albon to 30 points prior to the final in Suzuka, scheduled for the 11th through to 13th November next.

Under all reserve however : De Vries, winner of nine races out of the 16 held up until now, could lose his 25 points scored for his victory in Race 2 held at Genk (he had been excluded as the result of coming into contact with Flavio Camponeschi). The appeal put in by his rival will be judged on Thursday 27th October by the International Court of Appeal. Notwithstanding his 50 points backlog in the provisional rankings, Flavio Camponeschi could well still also claim the title in Japan in the event that De Vries and Albon experience a bad weekend.

KF2 World Cup: all glory for Loris Spinelli
Winner of the KF2 World Cup following a Final over a hard battle of some 30 kilometres Loris Spinelli (Tony Kart-Vortex) fully deserved hearing his national anthem played in his honour at Sarno. Already leading after the qualifying heats, the Italian took full advantage of his pole position from beginning to end, which allowed him to be at the front of the grid for the start of the Final, the sole decisive race.

Having taken the best start Loris was unable to build up a gap. Not only was he rejoined but even overtaken by Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (PCR-Parilla) and by the Thai driver (competing with an Irish licence) Tanart Sathienthirakul (Tony Kart-TM). But Loris Spinelli did not panic. Just before the half-way mark, he retook the lead never to relinquish same. At the young age of only 15, he can proudly add a victory in the KF2 World Cup to his record of achievements.

Second to cross the line, the Dane Christian Sorensen (Tony Kart-Vortex) was almost as delighted as the winner having climbed back from 7th place on the grid and especially after having lapped Giovinazzi in the final lap. The Italians Paolo Ippolito (Tony Kart-Vortex) and Stefano Cucco (Birel-Parilla) also rejoiced the local spectators, with four of their representatives finishing in the first five. The top-10 was completed by the Frenchman Pascal Belmaaziz (DR-Parilla), lapped by Cucco in the final lap, the Italian Gianni Vigorito (Birel-BMB), Tanart Sathienthirakul, who fell back to 8th place, the Brit Sam Snell (Energy-TM) and the Frenchman Victor Sendin (Tony Kart-Vortex).

Others might also have been able to claim, at minimum, at top-5. This was the case for the Dane Nikolaj Moller Madsen (FA Kart-TM), who had climbed up from 17th to 4th place in the Pre-Final. However the 2010 European Champion was unable to start his engine and had to set off from the back of the pack. Having come back into 8th place on the starting grid for the Final, after a 46th best lap time, the Belgian Sami Luka (Energy-TM) hardly got any further: an accident in the first bend put an end to the reigning European Champion’s ambitions. Last but not least, the Danish female driver Michelle Gatting (Birel-BMB) looked as though she was heading for a 4th place when her engine betrayed her.

KF3 World Cup: Leclerc in style
The most prestigious event amongst the Juniors (13-15 years) of the KF3 category, the 2011 World Cup version should remain as a grand cru in everyone’s memory. Because the number of candidates out for victory, not forgetting the young drivers all with an excellent potential future ahead of them, was especially important. And yet one of them was to excel above all the others throughout the weekend.

Having set best lap time during the qualifying heats Charles Leclerc (Intrepid-TM) was only stopped from victory in the qualifying heats as the result of being penalised twice for excessive speed at the start. And so for the Pre-Final he set off from 3rd place … and winning same, which entitled him to grabbing pole position for the decisive Final.

However a rather difficult first lap saw the Monegasque drop down to 4th position, behind the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (FA Kart-Vortex), the Brit Callan O’keefe (FA Kart-Vortex) and the Dutchman Max Verstappen (CRG-Parilla), finally being forced to retire a few laps from the finish. As from the second lap, O’keefe, previously 3rd in the KF3 World Cup in 2010, took over the lead and when Leclerc managed to grab second place, the gap was practically two seconds. As from then the Monegasque gleaned away tenths of seconds lap after lap to finally take over the lead 5 laps from the chequered flag. Following his victory last year at the Monaco Kart Cup, Charles Leclerc has now enjoyed his second major success, and he hardly had time to remove his helmet before he also received the congratulations by telephone from his manager Nicolas Todt.

Highly disappointed to have come so close to victory, Callan O’keefe was pleased to score his second consecutive podium in the World Cup, whilst Harrison Scott (Intrepid-TM), previously 3rd in the European Championship in 2010, once again managed to grab the bronze medal. The Brit took advantage of the battle between Esteban Ocon and the Italian Mattia Vita (Birel-BMB) in the last lap, the latter two losing several places in the adventure.

The Norwegian Oystein Helgheim (Parolin-TM) in fact finished in 4th place ahead of « Speedy », alias Antonio Fuoco (Tony Kart-Vortex), the Brit Matthew Graham (Zanardi-Parilla), Mattia Vita (dropping back to 7th), the Spaniard Alex Palou Montalbo (FA Kart-Vortex), the Dane Nicklas Nielsen (Tony Kart-Vortex) and the Norwegian Dennis Olsen (Energy-TM). As for Esteban Ocon, he finished in 14th place overall.