On the occasion of the second round of the Italian ACI Karting Championship, held at the circuit of La Conca, their Tony Kart Rookie triumphs in Race 1 of the MINI Gr.3 with the rookie Achille Rea.
Tony Kart Racing Team is once again on top in the MINI category, after the double victory on the occasion of the second and last round of the WSK Open Series a week ago. Actually, on the second round of the Italian ACI Karting Championship in Muro Leccese, their Tony Kart Rookie chassis, powered by the VTM engine of Vortex, the ‘engine division’ of OTK Kart Group, brings home another success.
In the MINI Gr.3 class, Achille Rea makes his debut in the cadet class after his decisive triumph among the Under-10s at the WSK Open Series. The Italian driver sets the seventh best time in his group in the qualifyings and achieves the success in the first scheduled qualifying heat, obtaining the fifth place in the intermediate ranking at the end of the day. In Race 1, Rea maintains his position in the early stages of the race and starts a hard battle to gain the third position. Five laps to the end, sporting marshals wave the yellow flags across the track for an incident at the back of the group, causing all the drivers to regroup. On the final lap, with the yellow flags off, Rea succeeds with the overtaking that gives him the win. As a result of the inversion of the top eight drivers on the grid, Rea starts eighth in Race 2. Unfortunately, some collisions during Sunday's final round does not allow the young rookie to finish at the top of the standings.
A few days after his brilliant victory in the WSK Open Series, Leonardo Gorski opens the weekend of Muro Leccese with the fourth place in Group 1 of the chrono practices and a success in the qualifying heat. From the third position on the grid, the Polish driver immediately takes the lead in Race 1 and gaining a good gap over his chasers in the following laps; however, with the ‘slow’ regime imposed by the race direction, his advantage is cancelled and forcing him to fight for his position. Unfortunately, a collision with a rival on the last lap forces him to retire.
Due to the stop, in Race 2 Gorski has to start from the back of the grid. Thanks to an incredible series of overtaking moves, the Polish driver recovers a total of 20 positions, finishing in the top-15.
Oliver Sini also shows off at the Muro Leccese event, where he starts with the best time in Saturday morning's warm-up and two fifth places in the eliminatory heats. The Indonesian driver, in Race 1, fights for the top positions and comes close to a top-5 finish, before having a three-second penalty, while in Race 2 he crosses the finish line in seventh place. Important performance for Henri Kumpen, at the starting grid of both races of Sunday.
In the MINI Gr.3 U10, Linghan Li attends his second event of the season with the Tony Kart Racing Team and, after an eighth place as best result in the qualifying heats is able to collect a top-15 and a top-10 positions in the two final races. Finally, Tiberius Müller works hard throughout the weekend improving his experience in the category.
The Tony Kart Racing Team will be back on track in two weeks (30th May – 2nd June) for the third round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series, reserved for OK and OKJ categories, at the Slovak Karting Centre (Slovakia).