WINTER CUP 2007, LONATO 18th FEBRUARY

ONLY TWO BIREL DRIVERS ON THE STARTING GRID OF THE KF2

FOR THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE NEW 125 ENGINES, BIREL AND TM HAVE AGREED TO LINE UP ONLY TURCHETTO AND PATRONO (MONZA CHASSIS) IN THE KF2. THIS WILL RESULT IN BETTER ASSISTANCE FROM TM ITSELF TO ALL EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS.

Cesetti, Croxford, Hattory and Wittmann, Birel’s top drivers in the KF2 category (formerly Formula A) will not be on the starting grid of the upcoming Winter Cup planned to be held at Lonato during the weekend of 18th February. In agreement with Tm (the official motor partner of the company from Lissone), Birel Motorsport decided to finish the first stage of development of the new 125 ‘Long Life’ engines outside the context of races, preferring to follow a programme of private technical tests. At the same time, by reducing their commitment with the drivers directly managed in the 1st official appearance of the new engines, Tm’s motorists will be able to supply top assistance to both customers and external trainers. The first race for 2007 of the Birel-Tm pair in the top category is therefore likely to be at the Margutti Trophy, planned to be held in March on the track at Parma. On the other hand the new Tm engines will experience their first race at Lonato with the Birel team for the KF2 (formerly Ica) and KF3 (formerly Junior) categories. Giacomo Patrono, the official tester, will in fact be on the starting grid with the Monza colours in the KF2 category in order to gather useful data, both in terms of performance and in terms of reliability. At the same time the development of the new chassis will continue; in 2007 this chassis will make its debut in International races, always in the KF2 category. In the same category we will see the debut, with Birel’s colours, of the 2006 Italian champion for the 100 Junior, Mario Turchetto, whose main task will be to settle in in the new team in the higher category by ‘sizing up’ his main opponents. Peter Antonfield will not on the other hand be on the KF2’s starting grid: the German driver will probably make his debut in the Malagutti Trophy. Finally, in the KF3 the attention of the Tm’s motorists will be on the young Kevin Ceccon, of the Birel–Gandolfi team, who has the task of testing the new engine in the configuration destined to the junior category.