2004 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 100 FA –100 ICA/JUNIOR BRAGA (PORTUGAL) – AUGUST 20TH/21ST/22ND

A EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPION CALLED COLETTI

THE BIREL TEAM DRIVER SUCCEEDS RISITANO (2003 CHAMPION). IN FORMULA A THE TITLE GOES TO DE BRUIJN, BUT CESETTI CONFIRMS THE GREAT COMPETITIVENESS OF THE BIREL-TM DUO.

The Braga racing track hosted the European Finals’ single race of the 100 Junior and the last of the three appointments of the continental Championship of 100 FA. In both competitions, the Birel colours ranked at the top of the list: in the Junior class, Coletti (Birel-Parilla) repeated the success obtained last year by Risitano, whereas in the FA Cesetti confirmed his top position, even if the exciting Test 1 favoured De Bruijn for the title.

European Championship 100/Junior
In this tuning class par excellence, Birel has been performing very well for many years now. In terms of training, the 100 Junior is a crucial class for all drivers; moreover, a success in this sports class is an essential display case also in terms of market for all car manufacturers. For these reasons, the European class title has always been much sought after by manufacturers and drivers. And for the Birel colours, which won in Corridonia with Nicholas Risitano last year, the 2004 Finals in Portugal represented a brilliant confirmation. The absolute protagonist was young talented Monegasque Stefano Coletti. During the qualifiers, the Birel driver attained the 2nd time, while Bianchi preceded him by just 152 thousandths of a second. During the whole weekend, the French driver was among the most significant rivals of the Birel driver, who in any case took the lead both in the qualifiers and in the pre-final race, where he beat Christensen, Calado, Crugnola, Bey and the excellent trio of Birel drivers, Alguersuari, Kronemberg and Dreezen. Bianchi finished only eleventh. At the start of the Finals, Coletti had no problem in taking the lead of the race, which he did not give up till the end. Behind him, Bianchi made up for the pre-final problems and managed to achieve the place of honour. For the third place, there was a pressing fight between Calado, Dreezen and Milloroy, with Calado making it at the end and achieving the third placing. Birel-GKS team driver Dreezen arrived 4th, recording also the race’s fastest lap with 53.871. An excellent race also for the Spaniard of the Birel-Mgm team, Alguersuari, who finished 7th thus crowning a very positive season.

European Championship 100 FA
For the last appointment of the season, De Bruijn, Cesetti and Nyman arrived in Portugal to put the title on the line. In the course of the qualifiers, the Birel driver attained a brilliant pole position with a time of 51”156, preceding Bakker, Nymann and De Bruijn. After the qualifiers, all the title candidates confirmed to be extremely competitive and ready to put their chances at stake in the two races on schedule. But two formidable outsiders fit into the top positions to make forecasts even more uncertain: Forè and Ardigò. The driver of the Tony Kart team achieved the pole position in Race 1 just next to Cesetti, whereas Ardigò was to spurt with Hanley from the 2nd line. Nymann was 5th in front of Birel’s excellent standard bearer Metcalfe, whereas De Bruijn sprinted from the 9th position. Fanetti was 11th, Japanese Umegaki 15th. At the start, Forè takes the lead in front of Hanley, Ardigò and Cesetti. But already at the initial stage, there is the first dramatic turn of events with a contact between Forè and Hanley: the Italian driver comes back delayed, whereas the Englishman is out. At the head are now Ardigò and Nymann heeled by Cesetti, but there is another contact between Ardigò and Nymann, and Cesetti takes over the lead. At the 6th lap, Gatto runs off the track in a spectacular way, forcing the Organizing Committee to suspend the race: the results are officialized after the 5th lap with Cesetti 1st, in front of Bakker, De Bruijn and the Birel couple Umegaki – Fanetti. At the second start, Cesetti sprints ahead of his direct rival De Bruijn, who forces almost at once an overtaking of the Birel driver pushing him outwards onto the dirty outside: this move is going to cost Cesetti many good places. Ardigò manages to slip in behind the Dutch driver. Forè catches up and reaches the 3rd position, whereas Cesetti is still delayed by a match with Bakker, who crosses the finishing line before him. Ardigò ends his test first, but adding up the times with the first round, the winner is De Bruijn, who therefore definitely conquers the title. The results of the summed up times, in fact, place Cesetti only 4th after Ardigò and Bakker. The Marches-born driver can only regret how things were going after the 1st start: without the interruption, his victory might have hardly been questioned. But the final decision does not jeopardize the still positive outcome of the season: the Birel-Tm duo has proved very competitive on all kinds of tracks and in any condition, achieving two victories and the 2nd place in the championship. Since the results are already set, everybody enters the track without needing to think about results. De Bruijn sprints well at the start, but already at the second lap Ardigò overtakes him followed by Cesetti shortly afterwards. At the 4th lap, Ardigò is ahead of Cesetti, Forè and Bakker. De Bruijn, on the contrary, drops to the 6th place. At the sixth turn, Forè gets ahead of Cesetti and shortly afterwards he manages to take the lead overtaking Ardigò, too. Frenchman Claverie joins the battle for the podium in the final part of the race, having the better of Cesetti at the very end. For all the protagonists of Formula A, the next appointment is fixed for the World Championship race in Muro Leccese scheduled for September 26th.