15th MARGUTTI TROPHY - PARMA – MARCH 13TH -14TH, 2004

COLETTI STILL LEADING IN THE JUNIOR
THE VERY YOUNG BIREL DRIVER WINS ONCE AGAIN IN THE JUNIOR CATEGORY. VERY GOOD PERFORMANCES BY LANCASTER, RISITANO AND MUSTONEN IN THE 100 ICA AS WELL.

The Margutti Trophy on the racing- track of Parma is a classical event scheduled at the beginning of the season. And for a weekend this Emilian plant, which is often selected by many teams for technical trials, will carry a great competition involving the most important manufacturers and drivers belonging to the karting world. In consideration of the agonistic season that has just started, the prestigious Trophy, established in memory of the missing Andrea Margutti, represents for all teams a very good chance to put their capacities to the test. All 100 classes (Junior / Ica / Fa) are admitted to this competition and as usual a record attendance is expected. In the 100 Junior category the great character of Stefano Coletti (Birel-Tm) is confirmed on the technical racing-track of Parma as well: during qualifying rounds he misses the pole position, gained by Jules Bianchi, just for 19 thousandths of a second, but finally he succeeds in imposing his leadership until the very good success obtained in the final, preceding Zipoli and Bianchi.

Campos of MGM team makes a good performance as well, gaining the 5th position, while the Spanish driver Alguersuari is slowed down by bad luck and closes behind the lines despite his 3rd time obtained during qualifying rounds. Birel drivers, following their very good start of the season, are the most favourite before the 100 Ica competition and after qualifying rounds they show to be the absolute protagonists: Lancaster comes in 2nd , following the poleman Waldschidt, Forsman is placed 5th, Mustonen 9th and Risitano 13th. And also during rounds and semifinals Birel drivers confirm once again their leadership. Risitano and Mustonen close their first semifinal just behind the winner Waldschmidt, while Lancaster comes in 2nd in the semifinal won by Bressan. In this round the very good 5th position of the Ukrainian driver Chukanov has to be underlined, as well as the unlucky performance of Federico Montoya, who gained very good results during qualifying round despite some problems, but unfortunately he is out just during the first lap. In the final Waldschmidt is able to control the wild Lancaster and finally he is the winner of the race just with about one-second lead over the young English driver.

Andrea Todisco gains the third step of the podium, preceding Risitano and Mustonen. Bosca (9th) and Chukanov (12th) make good performances as well. Unfortunately in FA Birel colours obtain fewer results than expected and after qualifying rounds (Laiv Madis with Kosmic team gains the pole position) Gaggianesi comes in 2nd, Fanetti 4th and Cesetti 9th. Birel top drivers show their best performance on the racing-track of Parma during qualifying rounds and semifinals as well. Fanetti wins his semifinal preceding Renaudie and Haugard, while Cesetti, who is not at his best due to the set-up, is more in trouble and comes in 8th in the semifinal won by Valentino Sebastiani. Gaggianesi is dogged by misfortune once again and because of a technical problem he can’t compete in the semifinal. During the final Fanetti is able to sprint and is leading for a while, but in the long run he is penalized by his set-up. Then the English driver Hanley, who is leading, precedes Davide Forè, while Cesetti comes into collision with De Brujn, compromising in this way his final result. So, the appointment to see the protagonists of the international karting in action is deferred to March 28th for the second round of the Open Championship scheduled on the renovated racing-track of Lonato.