Halfway point for the ROK Cup Italy at the South Garda Karting of Lonato del Garda (BS), hosting the fourth round (out of eight) of the 2024 season. As many as 235 drivers excited the races in the six categories of the championship, on a Sunday featured by fine weather.
Mini ROK
On the occasion of the fourth round of the championship the Mini ROK class is full of entrants, with a total of 54 young drivers on the track.
In the qualifyings, David Moscardi runs in pole position thanks to a time of 54.318 set in Group 1. Ludvig Bjaroy is the fastest in Group 2 and places behind his Italian rival. Emil Hernandez and Huifei Xie are third and fourth respectively, while behind them we find Mikolaj Gawlikowski, fifth, Jean Poujol, sixth, Giuseppe Noviello, seventh and Alessandro Nanni, eighth. Finally, Sebastian Riedel and Blazej Kostrzewa complete the top-10. The chrono practices also see Norbert Jr Plaszewski, Giulio Manzoni, Augustin Feligioni, Momcilo Davoust, Valentino Vivian, Logan Billau, Patrick Bissa, Kacper Kluk, Tommaso D'Ambrosio, Enzo Stambaugh, Edoardo Triana, Leonardo De Grandi, Morgan Zammit Azzopardi, Marco Pozzoni, Oleksandr Shylo, Juan Diego Garciarce, Gabriele Iacomelli, Odin Flora, Mattia Finadri, Andrea Carbone, Giovanni Pasini, Victor Mihai Ielcean, Yubo Wen, Alessandro Cereda, Davide Di Filippo, Leonardo Lanza, Benjamin Piscopo, Alessio Ottaviani, Antonio Ianni, Jessica Calleja, Leonardo Trombini, Romeo Stanislav Stefanov, Master Pha Warakitsupachok, Tommaso Pomoni, Leo Kralev, Nicolaj Pietras, Giorgio Sapignoli, Lola Mukhammadiyev, Bryan Filippelli, Asil Yusuf Ozbahadir, Francesco De Luise, Nicholas Bertolani, Achille Rea and Francesco Lisignoli.
In the following qualifying heats, it is once more Moscardi's name that appears several times in the first position, with two victories in the two scheduled heats. With a haul of two second places, Kostrzewa jumps from tenth to second position, making Bjaroy slip into third place. Xie keeps the fourth place, ahead of Noviello, Riedel, Poujol and Nanni. With two remarkable comebacks of 17 and 12 positions, Garciarce and De Grandi gain a place in the top ten. Gawlikowski is 11th, while Hernandez collects a stop in the last race and falls to 27th.
An excellent start for the polesitter Moscardi in the afternoon final. The Italian driver is immediately able to gain more than a second over his direct rivals. Bjaroy, Noviello and Kostrzewa fight for the place of honour, but at the end of the first lap it is Poujol who lead the chasing group. On the next lap, Kostrzewa recovers his starting position and begins to reduce more and more his disadvantage from Moscardi, resetting it at the beginning of the last lap: the Polish driver tries in every way to get ahead of the Italian, but David defends himself brilliantly and wins the race ahead of the Polish man. Nanni is once again on the podium, on the lowest step, leaving behind him Poujol, Bjaroy, Noviello, Garciarce and Gawlikowski. Penultimate in the qualifyings we find Rea who finishes the weekend ninth. A good performance also from Hernandez, 27th on the starting grid and tenth classified.
Junior ROK
A really fiery show in the Junior ROK class: at Lonato del Garda 52 drivers are ready to challenge for the final victory.
Winner of the previous championship round at Franciacorta, Giulio Mazzolini starts the weekend with pole position in the qualifyings. The Italian driver, with a time of 48.561 in Group 1, beats his countryman Filippo Pola, first in Group 2 and second in the combined standings, by just 0.074 seconds. The third place goes to Lyuboslav Ruykov, followed by Valerio Viapiana, fourth, Faidon Papafilippou, fifth, and Francisco Figueroa, sixth. Federico Sbardellati takes the seventh place, with Victoria Farfus, Thomas Pan and Stefano Zamponi behind him. The general ranking continues with Anh Tu Ranghetti, Antoni Kosiba, Guido Bruno Bidoli, Leonardo Monzani, Liam Secall, Angelo Pecoraro, Julia Angelard, Franciszek Bal, Milosz Smuk, Alberto Masotto, Riccardo Brangero, Matteo Lazzarotto, Sebastian Frigolet, Luca Spagni, Emilio Tedesco, Nicolò Carrara, Mia Cindy Oger, Ilias Mitaki, Andrii Kruglyk, Michal Zajac, Mateusz Wal, Ettore Sanesi, Enrico Pietro Villa, Davide Ruja, Irimia Benjamin Borg, Michal Czyzewicz, Marlon Di Salvo, Andrea Proverbio, Francesco Koci, Christian Romeo, Benjamin Westwood, Pietro Chesini, Borys Blaszczyk, David Ostapenko, Andrea Savoldelli, Mattia Vigotti, Plamen Teliyski, Selina Baum, Kimi Karakilic, Andrea Dell'Edera, Ioan Tudor Jercan and Lena Pichler.
A perfect run is the one performed by Mazzolini in the qualifying heats: the polesitter, in fact, obtains two victories in his scorecard, against a success and a second place for Ruykov, second in the intermediate ranking. Pola moves up to third position, while Sbardellati gains the fourth, overtaking Viapiana, Papafilippou and Figueroa. Bidoli, Monzani and Brangero move into the top-10, just ahead of Farfus and Zamponi.
The Junior ROK final is appealing right from the start. Mazzolini holds off Ruykov at the start and quickly takes the lead, while the Bulgarian driver is overtaken by Sbardellati and Pola after a few corners. At the end of the fourth lap, Mazzolini is frightened by his rivals and loses three positions. Sbardellati thus becomes the new race leader followed by Pola who, in turn, has to watch out for Ruykov and Mazzolini. On the final lap, Pola tries hard to overtake Sbardellati but the latter is fearless and runs straight to victory. Ruykov challenges Pola in the final bends but finishes third. Mazzolini is just off the podium in the fourth position. Bidoli, Tedesco, Zamponi and Monzani finish in the next positions.
Senior ROK
The success of the Senior ROK class continues, welcoming 51 drivers in the paddock of the ROK Cup Italy.
Strong trial for Danny Carenini in the Sunday morning's qualifyings. The Italian driver stops the clock at 47.459 seconds in Group 2 and takes the pole position. Franciszek Czapla is ahead everybody in Group 1 and finishes behind Carenini in the combined standings. Third place for the championship’s leader Andrea Giudice, ahead of Kaloyan Varbitzaliev, fourth, Lorenzo Bedetti, fifth, and Samuele Di Filippo, sixth. Seventh is Riccardo Ferrari, eighth Giuseppe Gaglianò, ninth Simone Taccola, tenth Riccardo Salemi. Right behind we find Alex Laghezza, Mattia Jentile, Mattia D'Erme, Franciszek Lassota, Kacper Turoboyski, Paolo Dung Pastori, Luca Perelli, Ghazi Bin Faizal Motlekar, Piotr Orzechowski, Alessandro Giarratano, Colin Wazny, Tomas Kuzela, Riccardo Chiodo, Piotr Protasiewicz, Rebecca Guarguaglini, Tommaso Curione, Nicole Ameglio, Nicola Marini, Emanuele Romanelli, Alessandro Cocchi, Alberto Bernardi, Edoardo Proglio, Lorenzo Lenzi, Giovanni Polato, Dominik Beller, Federico Zanetti, Davide Torrentelli, Mattia Chiurato, Michele Leonetti, Michael Hlavacek, Davide Pretosi, Angelo De Giorgio, Aleksander Ruta, Pietro Carmelengo, Nikolas Nemecek, Charles Troxler, Leon Ucar Devin, Andrea Fiocco, Ludovica Miceli, Diego Bartolozzi and Giuseppe Palladino.
The leader remains unchanged at the end of the subsequent qualifying heats, with Carenini still at the top thanks to two victories. Giudice scored a win in the last heat and, together with a top-3 result, moved into second place, overtaking Czapla, third. Varbitzaliev remains stable in fourth place, while Ferrari moves up to fifth. Finally, Bedetti, Gaglianò, Salemi, Lassota and Pastori appear in the top ten. Di Filippo is 13th, even Taccola is 27th due to a retirement in heat B-C.
Even in the final, it is Carenini who plays the leading role. The polesitter burns everyone at the start, while his direct rival Giudice is immediately overtaken by Czapla and Ferrari. Giudice does not give up and, during the second lap, gains the third position against Ferrari, while Czapla does not give any space to the Italian driver. Carenini takes advantage of the situation to steady his gap over the two chasing drivers, which, five laps to go, is around one second. Only on the last lap Giudice gets the better of Czapla, it is too late: Carenini triumphantly celebrates the victory under the chequered flag. Salemi finishes on the edge of the podium, ahead of Ferrari, Varbitzaliev, Bedetti and Gaglianò.
Expert ROK
We still have two different winners in the two Expert ROK category’s races.
Sunday morning's qualifying session is a three-way affair between Andrea Sorbello, Nikolay Varbitzaliev and Marco Massironi, who are all within just 0.061 seconds of each other. Thanks to a time of 48.736 seconds, Sorbello takes the pole position and precedes Varbitzaliev, second, and Massironi, third. Gianni Zani secures his fourth place, ahead of Filippo Repetto, fifth, and Michele Zampieri, sixth. Alessandro Viganò, second in the championship on the eve of the round of Lonato del Garda, hits the seventh position, ahead of Luke Joshua Armstrong, eighth, Adria Marcinkiewicz, ninth, and Daniel Zajac, tenth. The ranking continues with Marco Beretta, Riccardo Pedrola, Tino Donadei, Luca Molinari, Marzio Cavini, Gianluca Rubiolini, Roberto Pelanconi, Marco Nannavecchia and Luca Davì.
In Race 1, Sorbello immediately takes the lead, with Massironi glued to the polesitter and the Varbitzaliev-Zani pair chasing him. After a few corners, Massironi gives his position to Varbitzaliev, after which he also slips behind Zani at the last bend. Sorbello, Varbitzaliev and Zani remain in close contact in the early stages, until the latter brakes through and moves into second place. The duel between Zani and Varbitzaliev favours the escape of Sorbello, able to extend his gap to more than a second and a half. On lap 10, Varbitzaliev moves back into second place, but is unable to close the gap on the race leader. Sorbello wins, ahead of Varbitzaliev and Zani. Massironi, fourth, precedes Viganò and Marcinkiewicz.
In Race 2, at the starting grid Donadei is ahead of everyone and manages to control Marcinkiewicz and Viganò, while Repetto cannot take advantage of his opportunity to start from the front row and drops to fourth place, also giving way to Sorbello and Varbitzaliev. Emerging in the leading group is Viganò, able to overtake both Marcinkiewicz and Donadei. In a short time, the Italian driver gains a good gap over his followers, led from lap 7 by Varbitzaliev followed by Sorbello and Donadei. The Bulgarian driver tries to close his gap from Viganò, but the latter is able to run the final stages of the race without any problems and takes the victory. In the post-race phase, Varbitzaliev and Sorbello receive a three-second penalty for having the front spoiler in the wrong position. Thus, Donadei and Marcinkiewicz get on the podium.
Super ROK
There is no shortage of battles in the Super ROK class, once again with many participants at the starting grid.
Second consecutive pole position for Alex Desario, author of the best time of 47.050 seconds in Sunday morning's qualifying session. Brando Pozzi finishes second, 0.083 seconds behind the polesitter, while Christian Canonica and Matteo Berruti are third and fourth respectively. Bartosz Grzywacz, the champion in force of the ROK Cup Italy, signs the fifth place, putting behind him Alessandro Cocozza, sixth, Lynn Neuhaus, seventh, and Domenico Cicognini, eighth. Aleksandar Bogunovic is ninth, while the returning Gaia Cardinali completes the top-10. The ranking continues with Zachary Brandon Taylor, Vittorio Maria Russo, Riccardo Martinello, Nicolò Coppotelli, Thomas Carnovali, Alessandro Zini, Simone Donchi, Sachel Rotgé, Riccardo Cocozza, Manuel Gritti, Kiana Naude, Lorenzo Poletti, Mattia Gafforelli, Matteo Favero, Matilde Seregni, Mattia Bernardi, Gabriele Cucinotta, Luca Fiorenti and Edoardo Montoro.
In Race 1, Desario keeps his blood cool at the start and immediately takes the lead, unlike Pozzi who gives up two positions to Canonica and Grzywacz. After a few corners, however, Canonica is unable to defend his second place and is overtaken by his teammates Grzywacz and Pozzi. In the following laps Desario is not able to shake off Grzywacz, Pozzi and Canonica, but the situation in the standings does not change for the rest of the race. Without making any mistakes, Desario gains his second win of the season and is joined on the podium by Grzywacz and Pozzi, while Canonica finishes fourth. Neuhaus finishes fifth, followed by Cocozza, Bogunovic and Cicognini.
In Race 2, Cicognini is in the first position on the grid, due to the inversion of the first eight finishers in Race 1. The Italian driver burns everyone at the start and takes the lead, ahead of Cocozza and Bogunovic, although the latter regains the second place at the end of the opening lap. Cicognini shows off all his experience in the category and does not concede any advantage to his two main rivals throughout the race. On the penultimate lap, Cocozza successfully attacks Bogunovic and moves up to second place, but this allows Cicognini to run fast and cross the finish line first. The place of honour goes to Bogunovic, who is able to beat Cocozza, Martinello and Desario, the latter ranked seventh due to a three-second penalty for having the front spoiler in the wrong position. In the fourth position we find Canonica, in the fifth one Pozzi, and in the sixth Grzywacz.
Shifter ROK
Lots of emotions in the Shifter ROK, the category of the ROK Cup Italy reserved to the shifter karts.
After winning the final victory in the previous round at Franciacorta, Samuele Leopardi comes to the starting grid of Lonato del Garda with the best predictions. The Italian driver does not disappoint expectations and sets the best time of 46.208 in the qualifyings. Marco Chiarello arrives second, 0.102 seconds behind Leopardi, while Andrea Zemin and Fabrizio Morardo place third and fourth respectively. Federico Squaranti is fifth, followed in the standings by Federico Diana, sixth, Massimiliano Pezzucchi, seventh, and Luigi Del Vecchio, eighth position. Gabriele Bensi and Adrian Labuda complete the top-10, finishing ahead of the championship’s leader Riccardo Rigodanza, 11th. On the track we also find Mattia Rossetti, Mattia Limena, Philippe Ehrensberger, Davide Cordera, Roberto Manduchi, Pietro Fioravanti, Leonardo Saba, Marcel Kasprzycki, Daniele Demartis, Takeharu Nakamori, Lorenzo Ripamonti, Leonardo Boccardi, Ferrando Giacomo Pegazzano, Paolo Fracasso, Alessandro Tagliacollo, Giacomo Pellegrino, Riccardo Franciosi, Giacomo Maman and Cristian Lovi.
In Race 1, Leopardi jumps perfectly from the pole position and is able to keep the lead after the first few corners. Chiarello, on the other hand, is forced to temporarily abandon his second place to Zemin. Squaranti, Pezzucchi and Morardo run in the next positions. With Leopardi already running fast away, Chiarello immediately goes to the attack and overtakes Zemin on lap two, overtaken after a few metres by Squaranti and Morardo as well. Over the following laps, Leopardi progressively increases his advantage over Chiarello who, in turn, leaves behind Squaranti and Zemin, moved in the meantime to the fourth position on lap eight. The chequered flag is waved for Leopardi's victory, with Chiarello and Squaranti on the remaining steps of the podium. Zemin, Limena, Rigodanza, Del Vecchio and Bensi finish in the top eight positions, with Morardo and Pezzucchi ninth and tenth due to a three-second penalty for an incorrectly positioned front spoiler.
In Race 2, following the inversion of the first eight drivers of Race 1 on the grid, at the start Bensi jumps ahead of everyone and precedes Rigodanza, author of an excellent start from the third position. Squaranti, on the other hand, goes from sixth position on the grid to the third. Behind him we find Zemin and Chiarello. In the first few corners it is Zemin who shows off, overtaking Squaranti and moving into third place. In a short time, Bensi and Rigodanza become the main protagonists of the race: the two get rid of the competition and, to the sound of fast laps, battle for the top step of the podium. On the final finish line, Bensi is just 0.066 seconds ahead of Rigodanza and gains the victory, while his fellow citizen ‘settles’ for the second place. Squaranti, back in third place on lap four, precede Zemin, fourth, and Chiarello, fifth. Leopardi retires.