The evolution of the weather situation has again played an important role in the 18 Qualifying Heats held on Saturday, 3rd October at Lonato. The heavy rain in the morning was followed by sunny weather that allowed the track to dry out. Kremers (NLD) managed to keep the advantage in KZ, Giannoni (ITA) leads in KZ2 and Gubenko in the Academy.
The rain that fell on the circuit of Lonato in the morning can be described as deluges. In view of this exceptional situation, race director Nigel Edwards gave special instructions to the participants. After this difficult period, he made a point of thanking the drivers for their responsible behaviour, especially those in the KZ2 category, which allowed the competition to run smoothly.
In spite of their caution, many drivers did not manage to keep their front fairings in the correct position in the rain and the 5" penalties affected the rankings. As soon as the sun returned, the competitors increased the pace as the racing line and then the track dried and the number of collisions increased accordingly. The current positions in the rankings of the heats were impacted by these two phenomena.
Six heats, three in KZ2, two in Academy and one in KZ, remain to be run on Sunday morning before the Finals and the battle will be of the utmost importance to qualify in a good position before fighting for the titles. The information below is mentioned in anticipation of possible future sporting decisions.
KZ: two victories for Kremers
The poleman Marijn Kremers (NLD) took two important victories in the two Qualifying Heats of the FIA Karting World Championship - KZ. Jeremy Iglesias (FRA) was very consistent with his two third places which allowed him to move ahead of Stan Pex (NLD), who was delayed in Heat 1 and second in the winner's wheeltracks in Heat 2. Not far from this leading trio, Bas Lammers (NLD) and Adrien Renaudin (FRA) were neck and neck.
Gubenko ahead of Zilisch in the Academy
The four heats of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy had four different winners. Alexander Gubenko (RUS) took a slight lead with a second place in addition to his victories, as opposed to a fourth for the others. The consistency of Tom Braeken (BEL) and Matteo De Palo (ITA), with one 2nd and one 3rd place each, allowed them to finish in a tie ahead of the two other winners, Theo Micouris (GBR) and Ivan Dominigues (POR), who are now at the gates of the top five. Fast, but lacking success, Macéo Capietto (FRA) was outside the top 10.
KZ2: Giannoni and Cunati ahead of Gustavsson
It was in the heats of the FIA Karting International Super Cup - KZ2 that the battles and twists and turns were the most frequent among the 99 participants who had twelve races on their programme. Arthur Carbonnel (FRA), who won three consecutive races, crashed in his last heat and left the lead group. Lorenzo Giannoni (ITA) is for the moment in the best position, against Simone Cunati (ITA) on full attack and the poleman Viktor Gustavsson (SWE). Not far behind Matteo Zanchi (ITA), Leonardo Marseglia (ITA) has come back well from his 25th position in Qualifying. Jean Luyet (CHE) managed to get the better of Benjamin Tornqvist (SWE), just in front of Carbonnel.
Provisional Programme of the Lonato Competition :
Sunday, 4th October
08:00 - 09:55: Warm-up
10:00 - 11:55: Qualifying Heats
12:55 - 15:50: Finals