CRG in Germany to defend the KZ and KZ2 World Titles
Everything is ready on the Wackersdorf track in Germany for the most important weekend of the season for the Shifter categories: the FIA Karting World Championship – KZ, the KZ2 World Cup, as well as the Super Cup - KZ2 Masters, scheduled from 7th to 10th September. Three categories, 245 drivers for 36 different nationalities and all the most important manufacturers and teams will be protagonists of the event which can be worth a whole season for the value of the titles up for grabs. It will be a single-round meeting, where it will be forbidden to make mistakes and all the weekend work will be important, starting with Free Practice, so as to get to the Final on Sunday to play one's cards for the title in each category.
Last year the CRG colors were the great protagonists on the Le Mans circuit, conquering both the most important titles: the KZ World Championship with Viktor Gustafsson and the KZ2 World Cup with Arthur Carbonnel. The Swedish will compete with the nr. 1 and will try to defend his title, while Carbonnel, as already happened in the European Championship this year, has moved from KZ2 to the top class and he will also be competing for the most prestigious title. The 3rd CRG driver in KZ will be Jeremy Iglesias, also a great protagonist last year, when he got on the 3rd step of the podium and very competitive again this season in the FIA European Championship, where he closed the Championship in P2.
CRG will get there with a very competitive team also in KZ2 where it will line up 6 drivers: Paavo Tonteri, Brandon Nilsson, Adrian Malheiro, Bruno Mulders and the brothers Filip and Jakub Wojcik. In this category there will be 125 drivers taking part in the event and the fight for the podium will be very tough, but after the excellent performances in the preparatory events for this appointment, the ambitions for the CRG Factory Team are very high, like the chances of defending the title 2023 obtained by Arthur Carbonnel. Last but not least, Jorge Pescador who will get behind the wheel with the Kalì Kart colours.
The third category represented at the event will be the KZ2 Masters reserved for drivers over 35 years old, among which many protagonists of past seasons in international karting stand out and where the CRG colors will be defended by a driver of absolute prominence: the 2-times World Champion Alessandro Manetti. The eve of the race was troubled for Alessandro and right up to the end his presence was in the balance due to an accident during a hunting trip, but in the last few hours he was able to dissolve his reserves and, even if not at 100% physical condition, he will be competing in Germany.
The format of the event will include the Free Practice on Thursday, while the Qualifying Practice and the first Eliminatory Heats are scheduled for Friday, which will then continue throughout the day on Saturday. The Super Heats will take place on Sunday morning and the Finals, which will award the titles, in the early afternoon. On the website www.fiakarting.com it will be possible to follow the action on the track with Live Timing and Live Streaming.
CRG drivers’ expectations:
Viktor Gustafsson (KZ): “Our performances in the European Championship confirmed the potential of our technical package which will include the last step in the evolution of the Road Rebel chassis, while as regards the TM engines, they will be managed as always on the track by Gianfranco Galiffa. We also demonstrated our competitiveness with the victory in the preparation race in July on the Wackersdorf track, but obviously every weekend has its own story and we will all have to be very concentrated and work in the right direction right from the first Free Practice. In a single stage event, every mistake or technical problem is paid dearly, so we will have to take care of every detail and get to Sunday by making all the correct technical choices, as we were able to do last year".
Paavo Tonteri (KZ2): “The CRG-TM combination is one of the most competitive on the Entry List of this World Cup and our expectations, after the tests and the preparatory race we attended in July, are to be able to fight in the top ten. We know we have the potential for the podium and we are all focused on having a top level weekend. I like the track a lot and the feeling for this weekend is really good”.