2004 ITALIAN OPEN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP - (Sarno, February 28th-29th)

BIREL STANDS OUT IN ALL CATEGORIES
DURING THE ROUND FOR THE VERY FIRST AGONISTIC DEBUT OF FEDERICO MONTOYA WITH BIREL TEAM, THE LISSONE-BASED COMPANY DOMINATES THE ICA AND ICA/JUNIOR CATEGORIES, GAINING ALSO THE PLACE OF HONOUR IN THE 125 ICC.

Before the opening round of the 2004 Open Masters Federico Montoya was in the spotlight. The eighteen years old driver, brother of the Formula 1 driver of Williams team, who has been active in the American karting for only two years, has decided to embark on the same career of Juan Pablo and to do it in the best way, he is striving hard to recover his late approach to the race world. During this season he will be active on two fronts: in Germany he will compete with Formula Bmw team and at the same time he will take part in the whole Open Masters Championship and in the European Championship for the Ica category with Birel team. And in Sarno, despite his relative experience, the Columbian driver doesn’t certainly fall short of his expectations, showing a very good performance.

During qualifying rounds he drives faster than his team-mates Risitano and Lancaster (who come in respectively 1st and 2nd during the race), while in the qualifying round run on the wet track he is placed sixth and qualified for the Final, but later on he is off the track. He is also slowed down by his inexperience during the round run on the dry track and in the extra round, when under evolving weather conditions he doesn’t succeed in starting the race with the best set-up. But Federico Montoya is not the only Birel driver who obtains very good results in Sarno. His team-mates in the Ica category Risitano and Lancaster make a sensational performance: the driver from Latium, sprinting from the first row, is leading and precedes just Lancaster. The English driver is slowed down spinning spectacularly through 180 degrees during the first laps and for this reason he is relegated to the 6th position. But thanks to his exceptional determination he is able to make up ground both on Dye Freddy and on Rotar who come in respectively 3rd and 4th. The programme for the Final goes on with the 100 Junior category and Birel stands out once again: Stefano Coletti beats the German Wittman and the Austrian Eng. Both rounds, that started the programme scheduled for the afternoon, have been broadcasted live. At first the weather is sunny but after the start of the Formula A a strong rainstorm breaks.

In this category Birel drivers experience a very unlucky weekend. Fanetti makes a very good performance, concludes the first qualifying round with a 2nd position and with the fastest lap in round, but during the second qualifying round he is bumped and he is finally out. And also the long-awaited Cesetti shares his lot. During the final both Birel drivers start from behind the lines, but they are involved in the scrimmage before the interruption of the race caused by the rainstorm. Cesetti can’t avoid the collision with another driver whose engine breaks down just in front of him during the 3rd lap, while Fanetti loses the spoiler trying to make up ground. Both drivers console themselves partially with the 50%-assignation of the points due to the interruption of the race and so Lammers, Sims and Forè, who are leading, now are not so far away in the results list. The Final of the 125 Sicc, which is the last scheduled round, is also characterized by the rain. Laudato, who has not found a good set-up in the qualifying rounds, is slowed down as Gandolfi, who shows not to be at his ease on a wet track. But the European Champion in office Manuel Cozzaglio seems to be slowed down as well: his engine breaks down during the 2nd qualifying round and so he is forced to run an uphill race. The World Champion Dirks, who has joined Gillard team, is leading, followed by Manetti and Kievitbosh. Laudato makes a good start, is placed 5th and is leading shortly. But during the final phases of the round the very good driver Kievitbosh keeps close behind him and, thanks to a better selection of the gear ratio, he is able to gain the first position just a few laps before the end of the race. Manetti comes in third, preceding Dirks and the very good driver Cozzaglio, who makes up ground with his excellent performance, getting close to the leading drivers. The appointment with the Open Masters Championship is scheduled on March 28th on the racing track of Lonato.