The 5th edition of the Rental Kart World Contest, the international meeting organized by CRG for the Rental sector, was spectacular and hotly contested, with over 100 drivers from 12 different Nations competing on the Cremona circuit. This year the Sprint format was confirmed, through which in 2 days of competition, the Champions were elected for each of the three admitted categories: Junior, Pro and Silver.
Unlike last year, when the winners were determined by Sunday’s Final, the titles were awarded based on the sum of the points acquired in each phase of the event, from Qualifying Practice, the Heats and the Super Heats, up to to the most important races: the Finals on Sunday. The drivers really liked this structure of the race weekend and the titles were awarded in the decisive and exciting Finals which saw the Polish Igor Polak as winner in the Junior, the Spaniard Josè Luis Chicharro Soria in the Silver one and the Brazilian Gustavo Zimmermann Martins in the Pro class.
A leading role in this event was once again played by the CRG Centurion equipped with Honda engines which CRG brought to the track for the occasion with a fleet of 40 brand-new karts. The technical assistance provided by CRG itself guaranteed all the drivers high standards of attention and professionalism, but above all it allowed them to attend many races with a high balance in terms of performance between the various karts and total reliability, without recording retirements in the race or technical problems. The organizational standards were also confirmed at high levels and the Cremona track also contributed to this, offering modern facilities which provided excellent comfort to all participants.
Finally, it is worth saying that in addition to the overall drivers’ title, the special “Lady” prizes in each category were also awarded to Caterina Cocco in the Junior, Rosanna Marziano in the Silver and Anna Wodecka in the Pro one. In the team's ranking, however, the trophy went to Zena Karting in the Junior category, to Il Toscano/RG in the Silver one and to the Handsign Team for what concerns the Pro category.
Full results, rankings, images and videos of the event are available on the dedicated page on the CRG website (www.kartcrg.com) and by following the Rental Kart World Contest social media channels.
Race reports
Junior: Among the youngest of the Junior, a category which represented a novelty of this edition by dedicating an important space to young drivers aged between 14 and 17, the challenge on the track was exciting and correct and was decided only in the final race Sunday. In Qualifying Practice, the fastest was the Brazilian Adrian Speroni, who also imposed himself in the first Heat held, while he lost some important points in the 2nd race on Saturday, in which the success went to Alessio Zacchi, who thus redeemed an unlucky Qualification. The name of Federico Gallesi, winner of the race (B-C), also emerged in the Heats, as well as the ones of Igor Polak, Andrea Marsella and Andrea Thej, who were all able to bring home a 2ndplace and excellent points in the Heats. Sunday morning’s Super Heat, however, saw Igor Polak emerge with an excellent race, prevailing over Alessio Zacchi after an exciting and fair battle. P3 for the Polish Maks Skomski, ahead of the Spanish Oscar Luis Chicharro Baez, Adrian Speroni and Federico Gallesi. At the start of the decisive Final, therefore, 6 drivers could virtually win the title and the show, as expected, was of a high level, with fair duels and a very high race pace. In the end, Adrian Speroni came out on top in the sprint, but thanks to 2nd place, the winner of the category World Contest was the Polish Igor Polak. Andrea Thej and Alessio Zacchi also shone under the checkered flag of the Final, finishing in P4 and P5 respectively. In the sum of points, therefore, Igor Polak obtained a total of 134 points, beating Adrian Speroni by just 6 points, while Alessio Zacchi finished in P3 with 108 points. Also on the podium were Andrea Thej with 97 points and Federico Gallesi with 94. Oscar Luis Chicharro Baez was also in the top ten, P6 with 78 points ahead of Maks Skomski, Andrea Marsella, Leonardo Rivadossi and Francesco Ceola, while the “Lady” Cup went to Caterina Cocco who closed the meeting with 7 points. Finally, the team trophy went to Zena Karting of Max Bettinelli, which placed Speroni and Gallesi on the podium.
Silver: In Qualifying Practice, Rosanna Marziano obtained an exceptional pole position, confirming herself to be very fast also in the 1st Heat held, narrowly beating Massimo Cavalieri, while another protagonist of the Silver 2024, Clemente Bifulco, finished in 3rd place. In the 2nd Heat Marziano was beaten by Israel Rodriguez, while in the 3rd qualifying race the winner was Massimo Cavalieri ahead of Luis Chicharro Soria and Francesco Cannito. This great balance was also confirmed in the Super Heat, where unfortunately during the 2nd lap a race contact eliminated Rosanna Marziano. The fight for the victory was narrowed after half the race to Luis Chicharro and Massimo Cavalieri who, during the last two laps, overtook each other several times until arriving at two contacts which favored the Spanish driver, who won just ahead of Cavalieri, Davide Nicolò, Clemente Bifulco and Andrea Camiciottoli. After the race, the two protagonists of the race were warned by the Race Direction and both were given a 3″ penalty which, however, did not change the finishing order of the race. In the decisive Final Rosanna Marziano came back to the fore and clearly won the race, while in the fight for the title in the first part of the race Cavalieri seemed to be able to get the upper hand, but in the final Chicharro managed to recover ground, until he overtook the opponent making the 2nd place and the title his own. Massimo Cavalieri finished the race in P3, ahead of an excellent Mario Germino and Andrea Camiciottoli. In the general classification, Luis Chicharro became the winner of the 2024 Contest with 144 points against Cavalieri’s 139, while Rosanna Marziano finished in P3 with 115 points, also winning the Lady Trophy. Also finishing the meeting on the podium were Clemente Bifulco in 4thplace and Israel Rodriguez, 5th place. Following this, Davide Nicolò finished in P6 ahead of Andrea Camiciottoli, Mario Germino, Francesco and Giuseppe Cannito. Among the teams, the Trophy went to Il Toscano/RG with 341 points collected by its drivers against the 327 of the Spanish CH-T and the 320 of Zena Karting, second and third classified respectively.
PRO: After Rosanna Marziano’s Pole in Silver, Gloria Marchetto of Team Keystone also stood out in the PRO Qualifying Practice, taking pole position ahead of Josè Luis Chicharro Baez and Andrea Ceccato. Marchetto, however, did not have much luck in the two Heats on Saturday, where she only ollected 16 points, while with a victory and a second place the Brazilian Gustavo Zimmermann Martins achieved 45 points; together with the Polish, also Mateusz Bartsch and Anna Wodecka did excellent races with a victory and a 4th place and a 2nd and a 3rd place respectively. In Sunday morning’s Super Heat Mateusz Bartsch preceded Gustavo Zimmermann Martins in the photo finish, while Ian Andersen also finished a very solid race in P3, ahead of Gloria Marchetto and Anna Wodecka, the latter also capable of setting the fastest lap of the race. The PRO Final was incredible, with over 10 drivers fighting for the entire 30′ duration of the race and continuous changes in the ranking, which also changed the outcome of the general ranking of the Contest category several times. In the end, the race was won in the photo finish by José Luis Chicharro Baez over Joel Favero, but after the race the Spanish driver was penalized with 10″ for two race contacts and was relegated to 15th place in the standings. The success in the Final therefore passed into the hands of the Italian Favero with just 218 thousandths of a margin over Ian Andersen, while in the last 2 laps of the race Gustavo Zimmermann Martins managed to take P3 after having also climbed to P8 , thus winning the category title. An excellent Vincenzo Roberto Martellino closed the final in P4 and Anna Wodecka finished in P5, ahead of Andrea Ceccato and Michele Ottini. In the Championship standings, the Brazilian Gustavo Zimmermann Martins writes his name into the hall of fame of the World Contest, gaining a total of 136 points against the 110 of Ian Andersen, who finished in 2nd place. Much disappointment for Mateusz Bartsch, who finished the Final in P10 (also due to a penalty for a race contact) after having also led the race for a long time, thus losing both the title and 2nd place in the standings , finishing in P3 with 103 points. Also on the podium were Anna Wodecka, who obtained an excellent 4th place overall and the “Lady” Trophy, while Joel Favero, who was very brilliant on Sunday, took P5. Following, 6th place for Andrea Ceccato, P7 for Jose Chicharro and P8 for Gloria Marchetto. Vincenzo Roberto Martellino and Wesley Bettinelli close the top ten, while the Team Trophy went to Handsign Team with 229 points, which preceded Raceland and Link Sport, with 169 and 136 points respectively.