ITALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 4 SARNO, 9/10/11 - JUNE 2006

CESETTI IN THE SPOTLIGHT IN FORMULA A

THE PENULTIMATE DATE OF THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP REVEALS AN ENCOURAGING PERFORMANCE IN ALL CLASSES FOR BIREL’S DRIVERS.

The refurbished track at Sarno, which was extended to cover more than 1,500 metres, hosted the penultimate date of the Italian Open Championship. The event was organised by the Italian Karting Federation and has increasingly become a sort of “benchmark” not only for the continental title races for all classes, but also for the world-class events which will engage the drivers of 125 Sicc and 100 Fa in the month of September. In this context, this was a very intense weekend both for the Birel team and for the drivers of Tm, the official partner of Birel’s racing team; thanks to the track’s long stretches, the drivers have in fact been able to experiment all tactics developed during the recent test sessions. As far as performance is concerned, the team Birel Motorsport was after some good results, in FA in particular. Following a not so good 1st test of the European and in view of the 2nd round of Varennes, Birel’s engineers tried some solutions which seem to suggest things will get better. In the qualifying round the performance of Cesetti and Lancaster, who respectively gained 3rd and 5th place, were already a source of encouragement. In the leg and in the race their position was further strengthened, particularly in Cesetti’s case; the driver ended both Race 1 and Race 2 in 3rd place. In Race 2 Birel’s representative overtook Bianchi, who had won Race 1 ahead of Christensen. Lancaster was extremely fast in the leg, was disqualified in Race 1 for having cut part of the track following a contact in the scrimmage, and was obliged to withdraw in Race 2. Risitano managed on the other hand to end both races in a good enough position to score some points. In the 125 Icc both Laudato and Cozzaglio were busy testing some solutions which will be employed in the Euro Sicc. The Open reigning Champion ended Race 1 on the podium in 3rd place, behind Manetti and Toninelli, whereas in Race 2 he ended in 4th position (Manetti won again ahead of Piccini and Toninelli). Cozzaglio on the other hand ended in 4th place in Race 1 and in 5th place in Race 2. Bad luck for Frasnelli who, after having to withdraw in Race 1, managed to climb to 14th place in Race 2 (he is now 6th in the Championship, ahead of Cozzaglio). Principe’s comeback with Birel chassis gave undoubtedly positive results: he ended in 9th place in Race 1 and in 8th place in Race 2. In the Championship points table Manetti is on the lead with 150 points, followed by Toninelli with 126 points and Laudato with 115. In the 100 Ica Wittmann had some problems in Race 1 (which was won by Mancinelli ahead of Piccioni) and only managed 9th place, whereas in Race 2 he managed to climb to 6th place. In the 2nd test victory went to Nolè ahead of Fontner. In the championship Birel’s German driver is always in 2nd place behind Piccioni. In the 100 Junior Peter Antolfeld was penalized by a huge quantity of work which he had to carry out in view of the upcoming selections of the European, which will be held on the same track. Because of this and also because of some bad luck, Antolfeld was not able to score any points. The next rendezvous with the top classes of karting is at Varennes on Sunday 25th, with the races for the 2nd round of the European Championship of the classes FA, ICC and SICC. This will be the conclusive race for class Sicc, which means that the 1st title of the season will be awarded. For further information you can now visit the website cikfia.com; live images will be broadcast by Eurosport 2.