The Birel ART Racing team made a remarkable debut at the second round of the WSK Super Master Series at Sarno, from 5th to 9th February. Despite missing out on the opening round at La Conca, the Italian outfit hit back with a win for Cristian Bertuca and second place for Daniel Vasile (CL Racing), propelling Birel ART to the championship lead with its two drivers.
Faced with 59 competitors in KZ2, Birel ART made the most of changing weather conditions for this time of year (16°C, brief rain on Saturday) to fine-tune the development of its recently homologated equipment.
Bertuca imperial, Vasile in support
Winner of the 2024 KZ2 World Cup with his Birel ART chassis, Cristian Bertuca was solid throughout the weekend. He qualified 4th and moved up to 2nd place after the heats, winning on Saturday afternoon. After finishing second in the Prefinal, he started from the front row in the Final and took victory by a margin of four tenths.
His CL Racing team-mate, Daniel Vasile, also shone. Qualifying 3rd, he won a heat and his Prefinal before finishing 2nd in the Final, making it a one-two for Birel ART.
Leopardi is on the comeback trail, and Hiltbrand is unlucky
Among the team's other drivers, Samuele Leopardi moved up 12 places to finish 11th in the final. Martti Ritonen won a heat, but was penalised for a loose spoiler. Pedro Hiltbrand had an eventful weekend, alternating between a retirement, two 3rd places in the heats and 7th place in the Prefinal, before being involved in an accident in the Final.
Fine performances in OK
In the OK category, Noah Wolfe (VAR by Birel) came close to the podium, while Vladimir Ivannikov, who performed well in Qualifying (9th) and the Prefinal (4th), was unlucky in the Final.
In the OK-Junior and Mini categories, the team's young hopefuls gained valuable experience with a view to the forthcoming races.
A promising start to the season
“We are delighted with Bertuca's victory and Vasile's 2nd place in KZ2 against the best KZ drivers and teams’, said Jordon Lennox. ‘This is an excellent indicator of the performance of our newly homologated equipment. Wolfe and Ivannikov have shown that they are capable of fighting at the front in OK and we know that victories and podiums are not far off.”
Riccardo Longhi, for his part, emphasised the importance of the team's work in developing the equipment: “This result is the fruit of a huge effort by the whole team. We put a lot of work into optimising every detail of our new package over the winter, and to see our drivers perform at this level from our first race is a great confirmation. We still have some areas for improvement, but this performance gives us the motivation to keep up the momentum.”
The Birel ART team now turns its attention to the third round of the WSK Super Master Series, which takes place at Lonato from 19th to 23rd February.