The Pre - World Championship KZ race takes place in Portugal this weekend
From 25th to 28th September on the Portimao circuit will take place a race for the shifter categories organized by RGMMC, the promoter of the FIA Championships. This event, which will end on Saturday, will be a practice run in view of the FIA World Championship KZ-KZ2 and KZ2 Masters scheduled in Portugal on October 13th. All the potential protagonists of the KZ category will get behind the wheel to work on chassis and engine setups in view of the World Championship.
The CRG Racing Team, always a great protagonist of the KZ categories and this year 3rd classified with Viktor Gustavsson in the European Championship, will field its full lineup as well as some new entries who have joined the team for this important end-of-season event.
CRG will have a total of 13 drivers divided into the three entry lists: Viktor Gustavsson, Jeremy Iglesias and Arthur Carbonnel will be the drivers to focus on for the title in the top KZ class. In the KZ2 category, the line-up will include 7 drivers, including the Brazilian Gabriel Gomez, this year's European Vice-Champion in OK. Alongside Gomez there will be Paavo Tonteri, Tigran Bunatyan, Filippo Fiorentino, Alvar Siimesvaara, Jan Luka Worthman and Jakub Bagdonavicius. Finally, in the Masters category reserved for over 35s Julien Gueant, Vincent Cossard and Timur Timerzyanov will race with the CRG colors.
All the drivers of the official CRG team will be competing with the engine support of TM and Gianfranco Galiffa and for all categories the tires will be the Dunlop ones.
The schedule of the event includes the first important feedback for Thursday when Qualifying Practice and the first Heats are scheduled, which will then continue on Friday, while the meeting will end on Saturday with the Super Heats in the morning and the Finals in the early afternoon.
This event will be an excellent indicator of the values on the field regarding drivers and technical materials, but it will be used primarily for testing, therefore putting sporting results in the background compared to the technical work program to be completed in relation to the World Championship. In any case, the KZ categories will always offer a great show and to follow the action on the track it will be possible to connect to the website www.championskarting.com
CRG drivers' expectations:
Viktor Gustavsson (KZ): “We know well that in these events CRG is among the favorite teams and we will work with the aim of optimizing all our potential, from the chassis to the TM engine. The most fearsome opponents will be the same as the European Championship and we don't expect many surprises in this sense. I like the track and our chassis-engine package seems to suit this layout very well; therefore, we are all quite optimistic from a performance point of view, as well as focused on the work program we want to complete over the weekend”.
Gabriel Gomez (KZ2): “Due to a car test concurrence, I will only get on the track on Friday morning with very little time to prepare for Qualifying Practice; my goal this weekend will therefore be to work exclusively for the World Championship, also using the Heats in this sense. We hope to find stable weather conditions and be able to complete our work program, considering that without Free Practice it will be difficult to immediately reach and be at the level of the fastest”.