2006 100 –FA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – 100 –ICA WORLD CUP 28TH SEPTEMBER – 1ST OCTOBER, ANGERVILLE (FRANCE)

ANTONUCCI WINS THE TITLE, CESETTI COMES 5TH

THE DRIVER FROM CHIETI WINS A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE RAIN. CESETTI COMES 5TH, CROXFORD 9TH AND LANCASTER 11TH. IN THE WORLD CUP ICA ALL BIREL’S DRIVERS GIVE A GOOD PERFORMANCE, WITH THE ITALIAN PATRONO ACHIEVING A GREAT 2ND PLACE.

Once again the formula of a World Championship held in a ‘single’ race has evidenced all its limitations from a sporting point of view. The top event of world-class karting should in fact elect the winning driver and the most deserving team, which are able to stand out on either fast or slow tracks, in either wet or dry conditions. In a ‘dry’ race luck and events are very important, perhaps too much. If, like at Angerville, it starts pouring down with rain 5 minutes before the start, results become a pure matter of chance. No merit should naturally be taken away from Antonucci; the Italian driver managed to emerge from the French deluge and conquer a title he would never have thought he could achieve on the eve of the race. The 20-year-old driver from Chieti, who was with Birel up to the last May, won by climbing back from the middle positions of the group thanks to a very good performance despite wet conditions, whereas after the qualifying heats he entered among the 34finalists only in 32nd position. Antonucci managed to get the better of his team-mate Forè (2nd) and Thonon, who arrived 3rd despite having been one of the most likely candidates for victory for the whole weekend. Christensen arrived 4th, just a few metres ahead of Sauro Cesetti. During the world Championship race the Birel Motorsport’s driver from the Marches was always among the big names, from the preliminary heats to the qualifying heats. But then he went off track in the Pre-final, in the collision which caused Ardigò to be knocked out (in the 1st lap he managed to climb to 20th place, and concluded 11th); then, because of the deluge during the race, he was prevented from joining the fight for the podium. It should be mentioned that the dispositions received by the teams for television requirements in case of rain only provided for the change of tyres at the starting grid, with no possibility to intervene on the gears in order to prevent wasting time. But if the judges managed to make the first rows observe this disposition, from the middle of the group down to the bottom something must have eluded them. In the excitement that preceded the start in fact the judges’ eyes were on the top drivers, whereas the other drivers could act with more freedom, even by inserting bars and other similar tricks which are effective in wet conditions. For Birel however, the French experience has confirmed that the developments introduced on the chassis are going in the right direction towards defining a great product for 2007. In the race, as far as the other Birel drivers are concerned, Lancaster had an engine problem both in the qualification heats and in two legs, whereas Risitano managed to keep in the top part of the tables both in the qualifying heats and in the various legs. In the Final however he was obliged to withdraw. The British driver Croxford was also in the spotlight for the whole weekend; he managed to keep among the top ten and concluded the World Championship in 9th position. Because of his prolonged inactivity in karting, Quintarelli did not on the other hand manage to qualify for the Final, although he gave a good performance both in the qualifying heats and in the legs, even despite the engine breakage during the second leg.

100 ICA World Cup
On the eve of the World Cup Marco Wittmann of Birel Motorsport was the favourite. Following his success in Japan in the Asia Pacific Cup and after having only just lost the European championship of the category (he was knocked off by a collision just when he was about to reach the leading position), the German driver gave confirmation of his potential by winning 3 legs out of 4 and by reaching the first row in the Pre-final. The other Birel drivers also did well, starting from Oliver Millroy (British champion of 100 Ica) who started the Pre-final in the first row next to Wittmann. Great performance also from the French driver (Mgt) Santamato, in 7th position, and the Italian champion of the category Giacomo Patrono, 12th after the legs. Within the preliminary heats, Saturday’s was a great final race which saw 5 Birel drivers cross the finishing line, one after the other: Wittmann preceded Millroy, Santamato, Patrono and Vanthoor. But also in the 100 Ica the single race formula did not leave room for error: at the start of the Pre-final, Wittmann had a chain problem due to wrong timing. The German driver’s difficult start also compromised things for Millroy , who was forced to the outside of the first bend and was overtaken by most of the rest of the group. Wittmann was then obliged to withdraw, whereas Millroy managed to climb back to 16th position. The Pre-final’s tables then saw Santamato as best Birel driver in 3rd place, behind Mancinelli and Abbasse, then Patrono in 6th place. In the Final the Italian driver, who is part of Birel’s technical staff, as well as dealing with most of the tests together with the test team, managed to lead the race for a long time. Just before the finishing line he had to give way only to the French driver Courquin, therefore achieving a very good 2nd place. Aside from sports results, Birel’s staff’s satisfaction derives from the fact that the important work carried out on the chassis has given great results. On the commercial front these results will be extremely important in 2007. The great performance of the Birel chassis have also been confirmed by the results of Santamato, who came 4th behind Dreezen, Burkhard and Vanthoor, both among the top ten. The British drivers Millroy and Truelove were on the other hand unlucky, whereas Wittmann started among the last, went off track during the first laps and only managed to climb back up to 24th place; the German driver managed in any case to show his potential by doing the fastest lap of the race, 3 tenths better than the fastest of his opponents.