MARGUTTI TROPHY – Parma (Italy), March 5th/6th, 2005

BIREL DRIVERS STAND OUT IN ALL CLASSES

REASSURING SIGNS REGARDING THE FITNESS OF BIREL DRIVERS AND KARTS ARE COMING FROM PARMA: IN ALL CLASSES, THE “RED’S” OF THE LISSONE-BASED MANUFACTURER HAVE PLAYED THE LEADING ROLE.

The Margutti Trophy, the classic early appointment in the racing season on the Parma track, has shown the best drivers of the classes Junior, Ica and Formula A facing each other. The Emilian race is the ideal occasion for testing the latest technical solutions before the start of the international season, offering an exceptionally effective encounter that helps drivers to get ready to fight after the winter tests. All the main Birel teams, including the inner racing division of the Lissone-based manufacturer (Birel Motorsport), showed up at the appointment confident in their ability to perform at an excellent level. In fact, the technical material developed for the 2005 season is providing very good feedback in all classes. These preliminary conditions proved real also in Parma, a very technical track able to offer accurate indications as to the attained level of competitive ability. After the qualifiers, there was a Birel driver starting from the pole position in each of the three planned Finals: Kronemberger in the Junior, Bosca in the Ica and Sauro Cesetti in Formula A, the Queen class. The race restricted to very young Junior drivers might even have turned into a Birel parade on the finishing line: the first 4 positions in the grid were taken up by Birel drivers, who showed their superiority at an early stage in the race. Spaniard Costa held sway during the first half of the race ahead of Mehri, Tambay, Charles Pic and poleman Kronemberger. The only drivers able to hold their position in the trail of Birel team drivers were Alcaraz e Mengesdorf. But struggling for victory, even if between teammates, has not stopped overtakings and borderline contacts. The first to pay for this, was excellent Albert Costa. After leading the race for 15 laps, he was forced to withdraw after coming into contact with Mehri. So, a Birel trio formed at the head with Mehri himself taking the lead, Tambay, who follows in his father’s footsteps, took second place, and Pic the third. Kronemberger, too, was penalised in the meantime during a scrimmage and ended up 6th behind Alcaraz and Zampieri. As happens often in the introductory classes, the result of the race was decided at the very last lap: Tambay and Mehri touched each other, thus favouring the success of Frenchman Charles Pic. The final sprint for the 2nd place included five drivers, with Mehri ending 2nd and the couple of Intrepid drivers Alcaraz-Mengendorf managing to cross the line ahead of Tambay. Kronemberger as well was not lucky in the sprint, finishing up at 10th, while having run an excellent race with his Birel-Tm among all those Iame –Parilla engines. The race in the 100 Ica class seemed likely to be fairly easy for Alessandro Bosca, who had shown a consistent superiority compared to all his main rivals throughout the weekend. Risitano, on the other hand, had little luck: tehcnical problems stopped him from starting from the first heat, and the 6th placing in the 2nd heat was not enough for him to qualify. Bosca, sprang from the pole position, led the race for over 10 laps before being overtaken by Dalè and later by his teammate Weber. Towards the end of the race, the two Birel drivers were right behind the leaders ready to take their chances, but an accident at the Ciak bend forced the race supervisor to interrupt the race prematurely freezing all positions to the lap before. In any case, the podium has been an excellent result for the two Birel drivers, also in light of the results of rivals deemed more formidable: Calado (4th), Eng (6th) and Wittmann (9th). In Formula A, Sauro Cesetti sprang from the pole position ahead of Bianchi, Mortara, Forè, Kamitsakis, Lancaster and Ardigò.

Antonucci started a little further back because he had to withdraw during the first qualifying heat. But the race was interrupted after only one lap because of an accident to Waldschmidt. After restarting, Cesetti firmly takes the lead. Frenchman Bianchi, following him closely and with great determination, touches Cesetti and later Forè at this early stage. But in the course of the 9th lap, his excessive determination leads him off-track, and Montara takes control after overtaking Cesetti in the meantime. After mid-race, Cesetti is able to take the lead again, and Forè gets back onto the trail of the two leaders. Further to the back, Lancaster is doing very well, catching up on Oakes, Alfano and Kamitsakis. Three laps from the finish, Forè overtakes his teammate Mortara and gets right behind Cesetti. The Marches-born driver seems to be able to keep Forè under control easily, but then two laps from the end the current World Title holder tries an absurd overtaking in the track’s central part: the Brescia-born driver delays his braking so much that he pushes Cesetti out of his course and helps Mortara take the lead. Cesetti is able to get back on track only at 5th after Lancaster. Thus, the drivers pass the chequered flag in the following order: Mortara, Forè and Ardigò. Like in Lonato only 15 days ago, an episode which could be considered a possible infringement of the regulations, determines the final result of the race. But while in Lonato Forè was penalised because he bumped into Hanley and denied victory, the clerks of the Parma course did not deem this measure necessary. Obviously, this end has upset the Birel team quite a bit having realised that it had been denied a well-deserved race result after having done a great job throughout the entire weekend. The hope is that during the next appointments, when the stakes are going to be higher, both the race authority and the drivers concerned will pay more attention to such incidents. Races should not come down to a last lap without rules, they should be marked by fair play regarding the technical and the race rules during the whole event. While such a behaviour is partly acceptable among the very young of the introductory classes, it cannot be permitted among the Formula A professionals. In any event, the final result of the Parma race has provided a positive feedback to the Birel staff. Apart from Cesetti’s possible victory (who ended up 5th), Lancaster ran an excellent race finishing 4th and developing alternative technical solutions compared to the Marches-born driver; the same can be said about Antonucci (who ended up 9th), who is increasingly showing a very good team spirit with his new team companions. The next appointment with the International Karting is scheduled in Lonato on March 27th with the first test of the Open Championship.