2004 FORMULA A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MURO LECCESE (LECCE), SEPTEMBER 24TH/25TH/26TH

THE TITLE GOES TO FORÈ ON A TOUGH WEEKEND FOR BIREL DRIVERS

SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE ENGINES PREVENT LEADING BIREL DRIVERS FROM COMING UP TO THEIR EXPECTATIONS. EXCELLENT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE BY CATT (BIREL-PF INTERNATIONAL) WHO ATTAINS THE POLE POSITION AND FINISHES RIGHT ON THE HEELS OF THE BIG ONES.

The World Championship in a single trial is a one-time chance. Everything has to work perfectly: the engine, the undercarrige, the tires. And luck, too. At Birel’s, some of these aspects failed, leaving the most reliable drivers come away empty-handed. Starting with Sauro Cesetti, who was among the most likely candidates for the final success after having played the lead during the European Championship. A quick look through the images of his weekend immediately shows that the Marches-born driver was not going to excel. After having constantly been among the fastest during the free practice sessions, he had to face several adversities starting from the qualifiers. He enters the track in the 4th group, and after the rounds of the first three groups have been run on a track in perfect conditions, here comes the rain. During the very first minutes, the track is treacherous, and just when it stops raining and the terrain gets better, the driver has to park his kart due to an engine failure. He is going to do better during the 2nd session, however without being able to go beyond a 16th placing. Fortunately, the results of the qualifiers are saved by the excellent performances of Gary Catt and Hiroshi Umegaki. The first attains a sensational pole position, while the Japanese driver records the absolute second best time. Engine troubles, on the contrary, slow down Gandolfi, too. Michele Fanetti is 29th, while Forè, Hanley, Lammers, Molina and Renaudie stand out after Catt and Umegaki. New European Champion De Bruijn qualifies beyond the 10th place. The qualifiers bring about Cesetti’s overthrow. After his 2nd place behind his team-mate Catt in the first round, his engine fails in the second and his withdrawal involves as many as 28 penalty points. During the 3rd round, another engine failure forces the Marches-born driver back to the 3rd place. However, the epilogue of a weekend to forget about isn’t any better: on Sunday morning, at the start of the 4th round, he is involved in a pile-up and has to get back on the track crossing the lawn. Despite having spurted from the sixth position, at that point he is only 19th, but he is still eliminated from the round due to his short-cutting. This decision seems questionable, to say the least, as in addition to not having profited by his manoeuvre, Cesetti re-entered the track along the objectively safest stretch. The 32 penalties suffered make even the 2nd place in the last round useless. This elimination is really an absolutely unpredictable damper for Cesetti. However, at the same time it is a signal to take the proper urgent measures to solve the engine problems that came out on the Apulian weekend. Similar problems have also prejudiced Umegaki’s chances, who has actually been tricked twice by an engine failure at the very last lap. A real shame, as the Japanese has thus lost the chance to start among the first five in the pre-finals and been confined to the 30th position. Gandolfi, on the other hand, had to pay for his problems in the qualifiers during all the rounds: despite a late start, he was able to catch up 10 placings on average during each race, but due to only 4 penalties he was still eliminated from the Finals. Fanetti concluded the two preliminary rounds well, but then he was eliminated from the finals in consequence of an engine failure, a problem with a sparking plug and an accident. Among the finalists, instead, we find Catt and Litchfield (Birel – Pf International) with excellent scores, Rask (Birel-Mgm), Vernay ( Birel – Gks) and already mentioned Umegaki.

THE PRE-FINALS
In the pre-finals, the first row is for Hanley and Renaudie, with Forè, Lammers, De Bruijn and Catt right on their heels. After the first few laps, Ben Hanley takes the lead, managing to gain a few metres on the Renaudie (Pcr) – Kozinski (Sodi kart) duo. Forè is 4th and controls the return of De Bruijn, who precedes Gary Catt, Lammers and Thonon. More problems, on the contrary, for Umegaki: his engine has low efficiency and he is not even able to do better than 48” in his best lap. At the finishing line he is only 28th. Before the finish, also the Maxter motor of leader Hanley gets into trouble: a seizure just two laps before the end suddenly frustrates the Englishman’s dreams. Hanley’s failure hands over the victory to Kozlinski, who comes in first ahead of Renaudie. Forè ends 3rd, followed by De Bruijn, Lammers, Catt and Thonon. And these are the rivals running for the title during the coming World Championship Finals.

THE FINALS
Kozlinski sprints very well, but before the first lap is finished Davide Forè takes over the lead. With a resolute move, the driver from Brescia overtakes his rival at the hairpin bend before the finishing post. Kozlinski is attacked also by Lammers, while Gary Catt passes fourth struggling with Renaudie. At the initial stage, Thonon has to leave the scene due to a breakdown, while Koslinski and Lammers overtake each other a couple of times facilitating Forè’s sprint ahead, who gains a few metres on his pursuers. Renaudie, Catt and De Bruijn, instead, lose ground as to the leaders, thus being virtually cut out. In the meantime, a resolute Hanley performs an extraordinary recovery: after half the race, he is sixth at less than 10” from Forè. During the last lap, the couple Kozlinski-Lammers tries to catch up with Forè, but there is no way, and the Brescia-born driver wins his 3rd World Championship. Kozlinski is 2nd ahead of Lammers, while Renaudie is 4th preceding De Bruijn, Hanley and Catt. Umegaki is involved in an accident towards the end and never gets to the finishing line.

THE BIREL DRIVERS’ COMMENTS
Sauro Cesetti: “we had some troubles with the engines that ended in a breakdown during qualifiers and in the 2nd round. Tm technicians found some possible causes, but unfortunately such a one-time trial as the World Championship takes a heavy toll. It’s a shame, because we had arrived with great expectations and the chassis was doing very well. The only tiny comfort is that in the two rounds against Forè I have always managed to precede him. Then, we also got this questionable black flag: during the controversial occurrence, I lost about 15 placings and I should only have been penalized if I had profited by this manoeuvre! Anyway, things are not changing through “ifs and buts”: we have had some problems and have now to work hard to remove them. We’ll soon be able to rally, because we have all the prerequisites for doing it.”

Hiroshi Umegaki: “an engine failing two times during the last lap is something very rare and hitting also under the psychological point of view. Unfortunately, we have thwarted an excellent qualification. Also in the pre-finals I had problems with the motor and so it was impossible to do well in the Finals “

Ennio Gandolfi: “making up for the bad qualifiers during the race rounds has been virtually impossible: when you start 20th, you find yourself constantly in a scuffle and to catch up you need to be in a perfect shape with both chassis and engine. Unfortunately, for several reasons this has not been the case on the last weekend.”

Gary Catt: “my Birel has worked perfectly for the entire weekend and gaining the pole position in the qualifiers was a great satisfaction. In the Finals, our performance dropped after the first few laps, and fighting for the podium became quite an effort, anyway, the outcome is certainly positive.”

SPONSOR
In Muro Leccese, the cooperation between Birel and the food company Beretta has become a concrete reality, since the latter is now the official sponsor of the Motorsport team. This operation is part of a wider cooperation project, within which the two Italian companies cooperate in several fields. At the Birel Hospitality paddocks, many of the insiders, between press and guests, were able to enjoy the Beretta snacks. Very likely, the cooperation is going to be further increased and developed in 2005.