2008 CIK-FIA KF1, KZ1, KZ2 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MARIEMBOURG (B), 29 –29.06

CESETTI FAST, BUT UNFORTUNATE

THE ITALIAN, ALREADY PENALISED BY RAIN DURING QUALIFICATIONS WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT IN RACE-1.
HIS RECOVERY WAS EXCEPTIONAL IN RACE-2 WHERE HE FINISHED 3RD IN THE FINAL DASH WITH DE BRABANDER.

Mariembourg – An unfortunate weekend influenced Sauro Cesetti’s performance in Belgium where he could have reached total success.  The Marches pilot, in fact, was always amongst the fast group, but a few incidents deprived him of important points in the championship.  At the end 16 points did arrive for him thanks to the podium in race 2, faring better than the championship leader Catt, but far less than the 50 points obtained by Ardigò, thanks to  a double success.  Birel competitiveness was also confirmed by Libor, 8th in Race – 1 even though his Kart exited damaged through multiple contact with Catt and Cesetti, and then 9th in Race – 2.  Parrott and Ryall also performed very well in their races: the first obtained 11th place in Race – 1 and 4th place in Race -2, whilst Ryall, stopped by clutch failure in Race – 1, arrived at 5th place in Race – 2.  The weekend was more difficult for the Birel pilots in KZ1, with Mich and Laudato respectively at 7th and 10th place in Race – 1.  In the 2nd Final, however, Laudato had a problem at the start and was excluded from the race for having delayed starting after intervention by his technician, whilst Mich obtained 8th place.  Victory went to Thonon in front of Dreezen in Race – 1 and in inverted positions to the same pilots in Race – 2.  Thonon therefore won the continental title in the category which, contrary to KF1 was assigned on only two trials.  Finally in the KZ2, emphasis should be placed on the 5th place obtained by Solgat in both Race – 1 and Race – 2.

KF1 Report – Cesetti’s difficult weekend began in the trial run, when on racing in the 2nd group, was penalised by a few drops of rain which rendered his session slower than the 1st.  So, even though it was the best time in the group, the Birel Motorsport colour holder was only 14th on the grid.  In the 1st
trial run he was also forced to stop owing to a technical problem, whilst during the 2nd he took command and gained 15th position on the grid in Race – 1.  It went better for Parrott (11th in the qualifying round) who during the trial run gained a 4th and a 6th place and was in 6th position at the start.  Toman was also penalised in the qualifying round and found himself in the same group as Cesetti, whilst in the trial run gains an 8th  and 13th place, which put him in 13th place absolute.  The pole, however, went to the French pilot Convers who obtained two second places preceding Ardigò, Laine and Bressan.  Appearance in Race – 1 for the Birel pilots was very brief and finished with an accident which involved Catt, Cesetti and Toman: the first two retire, whilst Toman manages to continue and, even though  has a damaged axel and crown wheel reaches an excellent 8th position.  Ryall was also unfortunate as he was immediately out because of a broken clutch.  Janson Parrott, however, finished the race in 11th place penalised by a few engine problems and a set-up which was not up to standard.  Victory went to Marc Ardigò who skilfully controlled the situation after bad luck hit the more important adversaries.  Also on the podium were Bressan and De Brabander, whilst Laine came in in 4th place in front of Forè and Kozlinski.  It must be said that the 1st Final was the object of heated and justified disputes due to Race Officials declaring that the start was valid even though the starting light was red.  This serious error could condition the outcome of the event and is intolerable in an event of international calibre.  Therefore, Race – 2 began after a long delay and after discussions as to whether or not to repeat the 1st Final.  Nothing further was verified and the programme was respected with Race – 2 which took the start with the starting grid line up based on order of arrival from the 1st Final.  Cesetti, Ryall and Catt, therefore, took their places right at the back.  Ardigò, however, went straight into the lead repeating his success in Race – 1.  Behind was Bressan, who was immediately followed by Laine, who had to forego his place of honour to De Brabander.  From the rear, however, Cesetti made the fastest laps (his best time realised in the 8th round in 54”.775) concluding an excellent race: 1st lap 23rd, then 16th in the 5th lap, to go on to 7th place in the 10th lap behind his companion Ryall (favoured by a better start), Kozlinski and Laine.  Cesetti subsequently passed his three adversaries taking him to 4th place in the 14th lap behind Parrott, whom he passed on the next lap. During the final phases he attempted to pass De Brabander gambling on 2nd place, but the action for just 10 millesimals finished badly.  The race finishes with Ardigò as winner in front of De Brabander and Cesetti, whilst 4th place went to Janson Parrott from the Birel-Mgm team.  Ryall’s performance in the race was optimal arriving 5th in front of Catt who, in making a good recovery, was unable to express the same efficiency as the Birel pilots.  Kozlinski finished in 7th position, whilst Toman concluded his race in 9th (delayed by contact with his companion Ishii).  In the Championship Catt remains the leader with 55 points, whilst Ardigò rises to 2nd place with 51.  Amongst the Birel pilots, Toman is 4th with 39 points and is clearly the best amongst the junior pilots in the ‘regina’ class, whilst Cesetti is 9th with 27 points.  On the last circuit in Portugal it will be necessary to have the concomitancy of many factors to be able to tackle Catt and Ardigò, but certainly one must recognise a command of optimal technical potential.