Val Vibrata, a podium finish in europe for Tony Kart in the KZ category
In the grand finale of the FIA Karting European Championship reserved for the shifter categories, their Tony Kart Racer 401 RR secured third place in the KZ category with Lorenzo Camplese.
The checkered flag waved on the 2024 edition of the FIA Karting European Championship for the KZ, KZ2, and KZ2 Masters categories. The Tony Kart Racing Team participated in the second and final round of the championship in Val Vibrata (Italy) with a total of 17 drivers, all behind the wheel of the Tony Kart Racer 401 RR equipped with the VTZ engine from Vortex, the "engine division" of OTK Kart Group.
In KZ, Lorenzo Camplese completed a weekend as an absolute protagonist: the Italian placed third in the intermediate standings at the end of the qualifying heats and won the Sunday morning superheat and lead the race from start to finish. In the afternoon final, Camplese made an excellent start, briefly taking second place, and then skillfully defended his third position in the final laps.
Constantly among the top positions in the standings, Tom Leuillet finished the final among the top ten. Francesco Celenta narrowly missed the top ten, while Marijn Kremers, unfortunately, was forced to retire halfway through the race.
In KZ2, with over 80 drivers registered for the event, Nicola Rossini once again reached the final. The Italian stood out in the last race of the weekend with a comeback of 13 positions from his starting grid. David Walther and Xavier Avramides, who usually competed in single-speed categories, also showed good potential with the shifter karts. Genis Civico Espona, Gabin Leuillet, Alfredinho Ibiapina, and Ziming Wang, all in their first year with the team, continued their development.
Top performances for their shifter karts were also confirmed in KZ2 Masters, with Roberto Profico making it into the top ten in the intermediate standings thanks to a solid pace in the qualifying heats and finishing sixth in the Saturday afternoon superheat. In the early stages of the final, the Italian avoided two drivers who had collided in front of him but lost some positions. Nevertheless, as his pace increased lap by lap, he made several overtakes and secured an excellent fourth-place finish.
Andre Nicastro made a lightning-fast start in the final, gaining fifth place. The Brazilian continued his race without making further mistakes and finished among the top ten. Promising results came from Andre and Eduardo Martins. Lastly, after a solid performance in the elimination heats, Ennio Gandolfi withdrew from the race prematurely.
The Tony Kart Racing Team, after the Italian round now moves to the United Kingdom to compete in the final round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series, scheduled for a few days later (September 5–8) at the PF International Kart Circuit, which is reserved for drivers in the OK and OKJ categories.